North Gower Grains

Monday was another mostly positive day for our markets.  Spot corn closed up 3 1/4, spot soybeans closed down 1 1/2, harvest winter wheat closed up 6 3/4 and harvest spring wheat closed up 1 1/2.  In the overnight trade corn and winter wheat are negative with soybeans and spring wheat positive.  Oil closed up $4.83 yesterday at $87.42 per barrel.  After being down in the overnight trade it has rebounded back to yesterdays close this morning.  Our dollar had a low yesterday morning of $0.730 US and a high in the afternoon of $0.733 US.  It has trended lower since hitting the high with it currently valued this morning at $0.732 US.

With corn prices back on small rally it is nice to see them above both the 50 and 100 day moving averages.  It is interesting to see that some analysts are saying the firm price of crude oil is now providing support for the corn market.  When crude oil prices were jumping up and the corn market was not really being affected and the analysts were then saying that the correlation between the two was over.  Remember the analysts will always come up with a reason on why the market does what it does.  We should also note that current reports out of Brazil have their safrinha corn crop going through some dry conditions.  This could be a market mover going forward if they do not receive enough precipitation.

The USDA released their Weekly Crop Progress Report yesterday.  They now report their corn plantings at 11% complete.  This is up from 5% last week and is slightly ahead of the 5 year average of 9% planted for this time of the year.  We should note last year they had 11% of their crop planted at this time.

For soybeans planting progress has reached 12% complete.  This is up from 6% last week and is well ahead of both last year’s 7% and the 5 year average of 5% finished.

The good to excellent ratings for their winter wheat crop decreased week over week by 4% to come in at 30%.  Last year at this time this crop had a 45% good to excellent rating.

Spring wheat plantings are also at 12% complete.  This is up from 6% last week but is behind last year’s 16% planted at this time.  We should note the 5 year average of plantings is also 12%.

This report should be considered neutral for corn and spring wheat with steady planting progress being made.  Slightly bearish for soybeans with planting progress ahead of previous years and most definitely bullish for winter wheat with the continued decline in its good to excellent rating.