Winter Wheat Forecast below Expectations

In the overnight session the grains were mostly unchanged with corn down 3/4 of a cent, soybeans down 3/4 of a cent and wheat gaining 1 1/4 cents going into the morning pause. Oil is trading 68 cents higher and the U.S. dollar is down 1/10th of a percent. South Korea purchased 63,000 metric tons of corn late yesterday.

This week in Kansas City, crop scouts met Thursday afternoon to release the final wheat yield and production forecast after three days on the tour. The wheat council’s Kansas crop forecast was 35.9 bushels per acre which is well below the 5 year average of 40.3 bushels per acre. They also pegged production at 288.5 million bushels per acre which was down from the 5 year average of 331.6 million bushels. The wheat forecast reflected an early season drought, winterkill events and observed disease throughout the three day tour.

预计中国将在2015/16年生产2.32亿吨玉米，同比增长7.6％。由于北京的高价股票政策，农民有动力种植更多的玉米，这使国内玉米价格比全球价格高30％。由于今年中国玉米进口量的优秀作物预计今年将下降200万吨，而高粱进口量预计将从今年的800万公吨中增长到820万吨。

Precipitation looks to clear up for most of next week giving the western grain belt more opportunity to get into the fields. The 6-10 day forecast shows drier than normal conditions from eastern South Dakota and Nebraska to Ohio which should continue to support strong planting progress. Precipitation reenters the forecast in the 8-14 day outlook with above average moisture blanketing most of the U.S.

—Cody Bills