DTN Closing Grain Comments

General Comments:

Corn was up 2 1/2 cents in the July contract and up 2 1/4 cents in the December. Soybeans were up 6 1/2 cents in the July contract and up 5 1/4 cents in the November. Wheat closed unchanged in the July Chicago contract, down 4 1/2 cents in the July Kansas City, and up 2 3/4 cents in the July Minneapolis contract.

The June U.S. dollar index is up 0.22 at 99.04. June gold is down $8.30 at $1,248.70 while July silver is down 26 cents and July copper is down $0.0990. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 19 at 20,931. June crude oil is up $.26 at $47.92. June heating oil is up $0.0099 while June RBOB gasoline is down $0.0237 and June natural gas is up $0.035.

Corn:

July corn closed up 2 1/2 cents Wednesday after a quiet day of trading while more heavy showers worked their way across the southern Midwest, adding to flooding problems around Missouri and southern Illinois. DTN's forecast after Thursday expects drier and warmer weather across the Corn Belt which will give planting efforts a boost, but it is still likely that some corn acres will be lost in 2017. Down south, Brazil's second corn crop continues to do well and Argentina's seven-day forecast remains mostly dry for good harvest progress with some rain expected in northeastern Argentina. The Energy Information Administration said last week's ethanol production was roughly unchanged at 986,000 barrels per day while ethanol inventory slipped from 23.3 to 23.2 million barrels. With South American supplies keeping a lid on prices, July corn continues to trade in a sideways range with support at $3.61 3/4. DTN's National Corn Index closed at $3.32 Tuesday, priced 40 cents below the July contract and still in a sideways range. There were 870 contracts of May corn delivered early Wednesday. In outside markets, the June U.S. dollar index is up 0.22 after Wednesday's decision from the Federal Reserve to keep the federal funds rate unchanged, as was expected.

Soybeans:

July soybeans closed up 6 1/2 cents Wednesday with commercial buying seen in both, soybeans and meal. Fundamentally, the argument for increased soybean supplies in 2017 seems as bearish as ever with flooded out corn acres possibly adding to total soybean plantings later. What is still not clear however, is this season's world demand and how the rest of the U.S. crop season will go. The most interesting demand clue lately has been the largest amount of commercial net longs in soybeans in nearly two years along with prices holding firmly sideways the past four weeks. Meanwhile, a mostly favorable seven-day forecast is helping Argentina's soybean harvest while July soybeans are challenging their highest prices in four weeks. DTN's National Soybean Index closed at $8.94 Tuesday, priced 75 cents below the July contract and near its highest price in five weeks. Among May contracts, there were 194 deliveries in soybeans, 66 deliveries in soybean oil, and 173 deliveries of soybean meal early Wednesday.

Wheat

July Chicago wheat finished steady while July K.C. wheat was down 4 1/2 cents. Winter wheat prices are still hanging on to most of this week's gains, even after Tuesday's crop tour got off to a good start. The U.S. Wheat Quality Council's HRW Wheat Tour estimated yields on day one at 43.0 bushels an acre, down from 47.1 a year ago, but still pretty good considering this year's weather problems. Wednesday's tweets from the tour showed leftover snow and areas still without power. The big question of how much wheat will be able to bounce back will be difficult to answer this week, but where stems aren't broken, there is still a chance. Outside the U.S., Tuesday's International Crop Summary from USDA mentioned no serious problems in major growing areas other than recent freezes in northern Spain and France. July Chicago and K.C. wheat both remain in uptrends for now. DTN's National SRW index closed at $4.10 Tuesday, priced 44 cents below the July contract and near its highest price in seven weeks. DTN's National HRW index closed at $3.78, near its highest price in ten months. Among May contracts, there were 39 deliveries of Chicago wheat and 242 deliveries of K.C. wheat early Wednesday.

Todd Hultman can be reached at todd.hultman@dtn.com

Follow Todd Hultman on Twitter @ToddHultman1

(CZ)

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