In the overnight session the dollar pulled back slightly helping grains push higher. Going into the morning pause corn was up 2 1/4 cents, soybeans were up 3 1/4 cents and wheat was up 5 3/4 cents. Keep in mind that at 10:30 CST this morning Informa will release their latest crop planting forecasts. A recent survey from Farm Futures Magazine forecast soybean acreage at 87.25 million acres, up 4.2 percent from the last year. The farm futures poll also saw corn plantings at 88.34 million acres versus 90.6 million acres planted last year.
Yesterday, the Buenos Aires grain exchange held their soybean production forecast for Argentina steady at 57 million metric tons. The Ag Ministry did the same, keeping their forecast at 58 million metric tons compared to the March WASDE report which is looking for 56 million metric tons of soybean harvested in Argentina this year. Over the last two weeks temperatures across Argentina have been above normal putting some strain on the southern growing regions which missed out on the increased precipitation throughout February and early March. Overall there is still very little concern over the crop size in Argentina.
Dryness in the plains continues to provide a reason for traders to cover short positions. The latest drought monitor shows parts of the Texas panhandle and western Oklahoma in “Extreme Drought” with only minor relief expected over the next 30 days. Scattered light showers of 1/4 inch or less was seen across the plains yesterday with some 1/4-1” inch totals observed along the Kansas and Oklahoma border. However, the forecast turns drier over the next 10 days with only chances of light and spotty relief in the 11-15 day forecast.
