Grains started the week in mostly positive territory with soybeans advancing 5 cents while corn was up 3. Wheat was fractionally lower in the night trade.
Corn was bolstered in the night session after Friday’s announcement by Syngenta that it was close to approval by China for its MIR 162 variety that has caused US corn trade to China to come to a standstill. The U.S. Grains Council said late Friday it hopes for confirmation of approval “in the coming days.” Although China has had limited imports of corn in recent years, if approved it would give the market a psychological lift.
In wheat, Russia’s ag minister reiterated overnight that the country has no plans to restrict its wheat exports. In Ukraine, the weather shows signs of a warming trend where cold weather has been the norm. Well-below normal temperatures have been in control across the Ukraine winter wheat region since the crop was planted back in September. Forecasts call for near to above normal temperatures through much of next week.
For soybeans, traders will be watching today’s monthly NOPA crush estimate. Industry analysts expect a large crush estimate, which is expected to show a record high of 165.4 MB for November. In South America, production prospects still look promising for a bumper crop. Although USDA left their soy crop estimate for South America unchanged in last week’s report, private analysts continue to predict higher production levels. In Brazil, rainfall across the region has been above normal over the past 30 days.
