The grains are mixed again this morning with wheat continuing its short covering action, up 3 3/4 cents this morning. Corn is down ½ a cent and soybean are trading 6 1/2 cents lower. The U.S. Dollar moved higher by a fraction of a percent this morning after pulling back from its peak on Thursday. Keep in mind NOPA crush numbers will be released at 11 AM CST on Monday March 16th.
Analysts are expecting 148.537 million bushels of soybeans crushed in the month of February which would be the largest February crush on record and a nearly 7 million bushel increase from last year. In a poll of eight analysts the average crush estimate ranged from 143.2 million bushels to 160.5 million bushels. Analysts see soyoil stocks coming in at 1.332 billion lbs which would be up from 1.228 billion lbs last month.
The USDA attaché stated in a report that it expected China’s 2015 hog imports could jump to 1,200,000 metric tons which would be a 20 percent increase over the latest official USDA forecast. The jump in import demand developed as a result of higher internal corn prices which has stressed profitability and reduced the 2015 hog count.
