Corn Has Rallied to Fresh Highs

Grains faltered in early trade after solid advances posted on Wednesday, although export sales ahead of the morning break added some buying strength to wheat and soybeans. Outside markets showed the US dollar correcting lower on steady gains in the last week while crude oil was in positive territory.

玉米在此举已经升至新高March hitting $3.79 in yesterday’s trade, the highest market since July. Funds were buyers of 13,000 contracts on Wednesday and seemed to be the main culprit behind the bullish momentum with an estimated net long of 43,000 contracts.

Heavy rains are expected in Southern Argentina over the next 7-10 days with Buenos Aires, Entre Rios, Southern Santa Fe and Northern La Pampa getting the most moisture. In Brazil, weather looks to improve harvest targets as expected rainfall totals decrease from Parana to Bahia. In Mato Grosso however, the conditions are wet and looks to stay wet over the next few days, however rains should back off and give the area time to dry next week.

咨询公司策略上谷物Thursday raised its forecast for this year's corn crop in the European Union but left its soft wheat crop forecast unchanged as it estimated that cold weather had caused no additional damage from last month. Strategie Grains pegged the 2017 soft wheat crop at 143.8 million tonnes, a forecast that would be 6 percent above estimated production of 135.7 million tonnes last year when output was curbed by a very poor harvest in top EU wheat grower France.

Weekly Export Sales-

Actual Expected

Wheat - OC 569 300-500

Wheat - NC 20 0-50

Corn - OC 784 900-1,100

Corn - NC 285 0-150

Soybeans-OC 890 500-750

Soybeans-NC 207 50-150

The risk of trading futures, hedging, and speculating can be substantial. Grain Hedge is a Branch of Foremost Trading LLC (NFA ID: 0307930)

—Kevin McNew