In the overnight session the grains traded lower with corn down 1 1/2 cents, soybeans down 5 1/2 cents and wheat down 4 cents going into this morning’s pause in trade. Keep a close watch on the WASDE report which will be released at 11 CST.
Export sales were released this morning which showed corn and wheat beat analyst expectations for old crop sales. Corn booked 639,000 metric tons, up 57 percent week over week and well over expectations of which ranged between 350,000-450,000 metric tons. Wheat booked 319,900 metric tons up 97 percent compared to last week’s sales and also well above the expectations of between 50,000-150,000 metric tons. Soybeans underperformed this week with cancellations reported of 176,700 metric tons which was disappointing to traders that expected sales between -50,000-150,000. China switched 355,000 metric tons from old crop to new crop delivery causing the majority of the “net cancellations” recorded this week. Soybeans recorded new crop sales of 502,400 metric tons this week with China making up over 80 percent of it. Traders have been looking for cancellations in the soybean market for the last month as South American exports have been ramping up.
Here’s what to watch for in the WASDE report scheduled for release this morning. According to a Reuters poll of 20 analysts, the average guess for wheat ending stocks is 692 million bushels, up one million bushels from the March report. Corn ending stocks are expected to be reported at 1.854 billion bushels up from 1.777 billion bushels reported in the March WASDE report. This would reflect the higher than expected quarterly stocks number reported on March 31st. Quarterly grain stocks showed 7.745 billion bushels on hand compared to 7.609 billion expected by the market which suggests either lower than expected feed usage or larger than previously stated 14/15 production. Soybean ending stocks are expected to come in around 370 million bushels which would be a decline of 15 million bushels from the March report. Quarterly grain stocks showed fewer soybeans as of March 1st, with 1.334 billion bushels compared to expectations of 1.346 billion bushels.
