By Carrie Muehling
BLOOMINGTON – Grain markets saw some support to begin the week based on lower crop condition ratings.
“USDA came out Monday afternoon and lowered the nationwide good to excellent ratings for corn by two points compared to last week, and they also lowered soybeans by two points compared to last week,” said Brian Basting, economist with Advance Trading. “Illinois is looking at a six point decline in good to excellent for corn compared to last week and a 10 point decline in good to excellent for soybeans.”
Markets also made contract lows last week, so the trade may also be experiencing some short covering ahead of next week’s USDA reports due out June 30. Basting believes some areas lost corn acres due to too much rain this spring. The soybean number is more uncertain, but will become more clear with the release of the Acreage report. USDA will also release its Quarterly Grain Stocks report, which can be a bit of a surprise market mover.
Basting said what’s happening in other parts of the world will continue to be important, as well. Any type of crop shortfall in China or Ukraine would affect prices in the United States. Weather is the main driver everywhere both domestically and globally for the next several weeks. Basting said even though many areas have had too much rain, timely precipitation will be important as the Central Illinois growing season continues.
Carrie Muehling can be reached at carrie@wjbc.com.
