Grains continued to bleed lower overnight while in outside markets crude oil, equities and the US dollar were on the positive side of the ledger for this first time this week with limited gains.
Russia's SovEcon agriculture consultancy said on Thursday it had downgraded its forecast for Russia's 2017 grain crop to 109.5 MMT from a previous forecast of 112.5 MMT. SovEcon also sees the country's wheat crop at 62.5 MMT in 2017 compared with 73.3 MMT in 2016.
Brazil soy yields are reported to be very good but farmer sales are said to be slow. Palm Oil continued to be weaker overnight adding to losses early in the week. China’s soybean imports in February were at 7.5 MMT, down 4% from the same month last year. Argentina corn harvest is said to be speeding along and port deliveries by truck are said to be record large.
Weekly export sales were supportive for old-crop corn and soybeans. Overnight, Japan bought 59,000 MT of US wheat in their normal tender purchase of 117,689 MT of food wheat. The remainder will be supplied by Canada and Australia.
Export Sales-
|
Actual |
Estimated |
|
|
Wheat - OC |
418 |
250-450 |
|
Wheat - NC |
149 |
50-250 |
|
Corn - OC |
1,347 |
900-1,200 |
|
Corn - NC |
127 |
100-300 |
|
Soybeans-OC |
738 |
350-550 |
|
Soybeans-NC |
80 |
100-300
|
Financial markets will closely watch the Thursday vote in the US House on the Republican led healthcare law. A failure to move this policy forward, would likely signal a bleak outlook on financial policy changes like taxes and infrastructure that market participants have been betting on.
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