Soybeans are higher on commercial and technical buying. USDA’s first condition rating of the season was a little lower than expected and there are continued concerns about dry weather in some of the key U.S. growing areas. Dow Jones Newswires reports cash basis bids Tuesday were flat on increased commercial bids against slow farmer selling, with updated supply and demand numbers out on the 12th. Soybean meal and oil were up following beans, with meal continuing to gain product share at the expense of oil. Also according to Dow Jones Newswires, Argentine farmers are set to start a one week strike Tuesday evening in protest of higher property taxes in the Buenos Aires province. Taiwan Sugar Corp. picked up 12,000 tons of U.S. beans at a more than $2.35 per bushel premium over the September CBOT contract.
Corn was lower on profit taking, technical selling, and the higher dollar. There was no real fresh news for corn and while the condition rating was unchanged, 2% did move from good to excellent. However, the weather’s a big concern with not much beneficial rain in the forecast over the next ten days or so. Ethanol futures were lower. Somar Meteorologia via Dow Jones Newswires reports a cold front late this week in southern Brazil could lead to frost on the later developing portions of this year’s corn crop. Taiwan Sugar Corp. bought 23,000 tons of U.S. corn at $310.90 per ton.
The wheat complex was lower on profit taking, technical selling, and the higher dollar. The winter wheat harvest is ahead of schedule and while the condition rating was down from last week it’s still well above this time last year. Spring wheat development is ahead of average, crop weather looks good, and the condition rating was down on the week but only modestly. European wheat was lower on spillover from the U.S. trade, along with the recent rainfall in Germany and Poland. Parts of Russia remain dry and the Agrarian Markets Institute lowered its 2012/13 grain export projection to less than 22 million tons due to the lack of moisture. Kazakhstan’s Ag Ministry reports 99.7% of spring planting is complete. Japan issued a tender for 180,537 tons of milling wheat (80,431 tons Canadian western red spring, 38,405 tons Australian standard white, 36,551 tons U.S. dark northern spring, 12,910 tons U.S. western white, and 12,240 tons U.S. hard red winter) and Taiwan is tendering for 48,750 tons of U.S. milling wheat.
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