Corn and soybean futures ended mixed on Tuesday, with the nearby contracts lower and new crop higher. Wheat was weaker.
Some profit taking ahead of the holiday Easter weekend undermined corn, while a wetter Midwest forecast was a supportive influence. According to World Weather, 70% of the Midwest will receive up to ¾ of an inch of rain and locally more Thursday into Friday. Ahead of the rain, farmers were reportedly pushing hard in the fields today. Monday’s USDA crop progress report showed national corn planting at 4% complete versus the average guess of 6%, and 5% on average. The USDA released a private export sale of 120,000 tonnes of corn to Portugal this morning for 2024-25 shipment. This follows the 120,000-tonne sale to Japan reported on Monday. May corn fell 3 ¾ cents to $4.81 ¼, and December gained 2 ¼ cents to $4.64 ¼.
Nearby soybeans were nicked by chart selling in front of the holiday weekend, with the turn to wetter weather later this week offering support. Despite the rains last week, US soybeans came in at 2% planted as of Sunday, versus the average trade guess of 3% and 3% on average. May beans lost 5 ¾ cents to $10.36 and November added 1 ¼ cents to $10.29 ¾.
Wheat was pressured by needed rain in the forecast for parched US winter wheat crops on the southern Plains. Whether the expected weekend moisture hits the No. 1 production state of Kansas is still uncertain, but Oklahoma looks wet. The American winter wheat was rated 47% good to excellent as of Sunday, down 1 point from the previous week but in line with market expectations. Spring wheat planting was 7% complete, on par with the average. May Chicago wheat fell 5 ½ cents to $5.42, May Kansas City lost 2 ¼ cents to $5.53, and May Minneapolis dropped 3 ½ cents $6.01 ¼.
