More Precipitation Expected In South America

In the overnight session corn traded ¼ cent higher, soybeans is down 4 cents and wheat in Chicago is down 3 ½ cents. The market closes early today at 12:00 CST today and will reopen at 8:30 CST on Friday morning.

A cold front is moving into the plains region on New Year’s Eve providing a threat of winterkill throughout the winter wheat producing states. New snowfall is expected between 1-2 inches in most of the area, but possible sub-zero degree temperatures may threaten some of the wheat crop. Confidence on this event is still relatively low.

Southern Brazil is likely to see heavy rains over the next 10 days which should then make its way north keeping crop concerns low throughout the country. Argentina is expected to get precipitation in the north and north eastern parts of the country, with another rain event expected next week which should provide relief to some of the dryer areas of the country. The driest areas currently include central and southwest Cordoba, western Buenos Aires and La Pampa which accounts for about 15-20% of corn and soybean production. The rains next week should provide relief to nearly half of the driest areas.

The head of Russia’s Grain Union said Russia may not be able to supply wheat to Egypt’s GASC in January due to the export curbs now existing in Russia. GASC’s Mamdouh Abdel Fattah responded by stating “Traders have to abide by their contracts.”

—Cody Bills