Grains came back from the long holiday weekend in a sour mood with wheat leading the complex lower in overnight trade.
The French wheat crop improved slightly with 76% of the crop there rated good-to-excellent vs 75% last week. In Russia, cold and wet weather is leading to concerns about crop quality problems. In Argentina, farmers are expected to boost wheat production in 2017/18 to 17.5 MMT, up from 16.3 last year.
USDA reported a 130,000 MT sale of old-crop 2016 soybeans were sold to unknown destinations
On Friday, USDA’s Cattle on Feed report showed much higher than expected placements of 111% vs 106.8% expected. Overall cattle on feed numbers were 102% as compared to 100.8% which was projected by the trade.
Weather forecasts continue to point to rain and cool temps for much of the Grain Belt over the next week. The forecast into June is said to be a bit murky by meteorologists as indicators suggest some areas may warm up. The areas that demonstrate the highest probability of experiencing a warm month include the Southeast, Northeast, and Western regions of North America. There is also some consensus in a cool pattern persisting from May into June over the U.S. Southern Plains to some extent. The June precipitation forecast shows continued rainfall from the Southern Plains through the eastern U.S. Corn Belt, including some areas that have been wet over the last several weeks. On the other hand, it also shows more of the dryness that began to develop during May across the Northern Plains and into Alberta.
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