Grains were mixed overnight with corn and wheat posting modest gains while soybeans sank into negative territory by the end of the night session. Crude oil continued to come under pressure, falling below $42 for the first time since April.
Spring wheat yield prospects in central and northwest North Dakota are down from a year ago but still above average, scouts on an annual crop tour said on Wednesday. The Wheat Quality Council tour calculated an average yield for 158 hard red spring wheat fields scouted in the region at 46.9 bushels per acre (bpa) on the second day of a three-day crop tour. The figure compares with the 2015 Day Two yield of 47.3 bpa and the five-year average of 45.7.
French consultancy ODA said it expects soft wheat production in the European Union to drop to 134 million tonnes this year, down 17 million from a record 2015 harvest, due to weather hit-yields in France and other parts of western Europe.
The estimate, posted late on Wednesday on ODA's Twitter account, was well below the European Commission's current forecast of 144.6 million tonnes made at the end of June and the 145.5 million tonnes estimated by fellow consultancy Strategie Grains in mid-July. As well as a widely expected plunge in French production, due to the impact of torrential rain, limited sunshine and crop disease, ODA said it expected similar problems in the Benelux countries, southern England and southern and western Germany.
Weekly Export Sales
OC-Act OC-Exp NC-Act NC-Exp
Corn 438 300-500 476 450-650
Soybeans -1 250-450 678 600-800
Wheat 506 400-600
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