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Solid start to week for grains, oilseeds

Soybeans were higher on fund and commercial buying. Near term domestic supplies remain tight and the trade wants to keep prices relatively high to ration demand. Still, Brazil’s harvest is wrapping up and Argentina’s starting to pick up steam, and there are worries about more defaults by Chinese buyers. Soybean meal and oil were higher, following the lead of the other grain and oilseed commodities. The National Oilseed Processors Association’s March crush numbers are out Tuesday. On average, analysts expect member firms to have crushed 146.1 million bushels of beans with soybean oil stocks at 1.917 billion pounds.

Corn was higher on fund and technical buying. The recent precipitation has helped recharge soil moisture, but temperatures are cooler and some areas even got snow, which will delay planting. USDA reports that as of Sunday, 3% of the U.S. corn crop is planted, compared to 2% a year ago and 6% on average. Ethanol was mixed. Ukraine’s Ag Ministry reports that total grain exports since the start of the marketing year are just over 28 million tons, ahead of last year’s pace, with corn accounting for 17.972 million tons.

The wheat complex was higher on commercial and speculative buying. The trade is back to watching tensions around the Black Sea region and the potential for increased U.S. exports. For winter wheat, 34% of the crop is rated good to excellent, down 1% on week and 5% has headed, compared to 4% last year, and for spring wheat, 6% of the crop is planted, compared to 5% a year ago. According to Dow Jones Newswires, Egypt is going to have a smart-card system for subsidized bread in place by July. Over the weekend, Cairo picked up 230,000 tons of soft and/or milling wheat (120,000 tons from Romania and 55,000 tons each from Ukraine and Russia). According to Russia’s Ag Ministry, grain exports since the start of the marketing year July 1 are 21.488 million tons, 15.926 million tons of that wheat, and Ukraine’s Ag Ministry adds grain exports are 28.338 million tons, 7.932 million of that wheat. DTN reports Taiwan bought 92,600 tons of U.S. milling wheat and South Korea’s Nonghyup Feed Inc. purchased 65,000 tons of optional origin feed wheat.

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