Grain markets were subdued overnight with grains showing modest losses in fairly limited trade. In outside markets, the US dollar hit fresh lows late in the morning session while crude oil was weaker on the night but was coming back closer to unchanged.
On Friday a number of analysts trimmed the Brazil corn crop estimate as heat stress has taken its toll on the 2nd crop there. Analyst AGR BRASIL reduced its Brazil 2015/16 corn forecast to 79.6 MMT from 85.1 MMT in March. Meanwhile analyst Franca pegged it at 79.5 MMT versus 87.1 MMT in March.
Most of this week will be dry in Brazil’s main agricultural areas. Some random showers will occur near the coast from Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro to eastern Bahia and a few may occur infrequently from northern Mato Grosso to Tocantins. The impact will be one of net drying for most of the nation and immature second season corn production areas will slowly dry out once again, but many crops will be in favorable condition because of rain that fell last week.
In Argentina, A favorable weather pattern is expected through the next ten days with restricted rainfall and mild to warm temperatures. The environment will favor better harvest conditions as time moves along. No meaningful rain is expected through Thursday morning. Some showers will evolve Thursday afternoon and Friday in portions of the nation. Some of the shower activity will linger into early next week.
Oil prices edged back from 2016 highs on Monday as rising production in the Middle East outweighed a decline in U.S. output and a sliding dollar. Crude production by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries rose in April to 32.64 million barrels per day (bpd), close to the highest level in recent history. Iraq's April exports from southern fields increased, as did seaborne exports from Russia, the biggest exporter outside OPEC.
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