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Not enough spark in slow planting to ignite rally

An ag economist says the slow start to planting across many parts of the Corn Belt would need to drag into May to spark a rally.

Todd Hubbs at the University of Illinois tells Brownfield his attention remains on South American production.

“Seeing how the Brazilian crop starts turning out, that second crop, might be a place where we could see some rallies coming from if we’re worried about that kind of situation.  For all intents and purposes, it looks like there’s going to be a huge corn crop in Brazil, but it’s not in the bins yet.”

He says time will tell if strength generates beneath this corn market.

“As we move through the end of April and into May and June, we could see some issues with corn planting that might give (the market) a rally.  Or we could see some issues down in South America that might push it a little bit.  But right now, I’m not too confident in either one of those scenarios coming to bear.”

The USDA says as of Sunday, corn planting is three percent behind the five year average at six percent complete.