The grains are trading mixed this morning with corn down ¾ of a penny, soybeans up 4 ¼ cents and wheat down 1 ½ a cent. This Friday the 27th is the First Notice day for March corn, soybeans, wheat, KC wheat and MN wheat. Hedgers that are not looking to take delivery should exit their March positions or roll into May contracts.
Truckers in Brazil are protesting higher diesel prices by using road blocks and parking rigs on the shoulders of Highway BR 163 to interrupt harvest grain flow throughout the country. The protest began on Wednesday in two small towns with a group of transportation companies and independent truckers but quickly spread to surrounding towns. Truckers are looking for the state government to reduce the diesel tax.
A few tenders have been offered this morning including an optional origin tender by Jordan’s state grain buyer to purchase 100,000 metric tons of hard milling wheat and another Israeli private tender to purchase up to 90,000 metric tons of corn and 25,000 metric tons of feed wheat.
The CFTC commitment of traders report showed that large speculators which includes hedge funds, cut their long corn positions for the week ending February 17th and lessened their short wheat and short soybean position.
