CBOT Closing Comments

Soybeans

July soybeans closed unchanged at USD9.35; July soybean meal closed at USD278.70 up USD1.50; July Soybean oil closed at 36.47, down 31 points. This afternoon's USDA crop progress report showed soybean planting on par with the five year average at 84%. Emergence was 66%, two points above the five year average. In it's first report on crop conditions the USDA rated 75% of the crop as good/excellent and 4% poor/very poor. Continued rain is hampering planting progress in a few states like Missouri and Ohio. Abiove added half a million tonnes to it's Brazilian soybean crop production estimate - now saying 68.4 MMT.

Corn

July corn closed at USD3.35 3/4, down 4 1/4 cents; Dec Corn closed at USD3.55, down 4 1/2 cents. Today's crop progress report showed 94% of the corn crop is emerged, 3 points ahead of the five year average. The corn condition rating stayed the same at 76% good/excellent, the trade had expected a small improvement. Today's USDA export inspections were a little on the low side for corn 31.742m bu. Accumulated exports though are 3 MMT ahead of this time last season at 34.5 MMT. Friday's commitment of traders report showed open interest in corn at 27-week highs. Some of these shorts may be tempted to bank a few profits ahead of Thursday's USDA report.

Wheat

July CBOT wheat closed at USD4.32 1/4, down 3 1/2 cents; July KCBT wheat closed at USD4.62, down 3 cents; July MGEX wheat closed at USD4.86 3/4, down 6 cents. This afternoon's crop progress report showed the US winter wheat harvest at 3% done compared to the five year average of 6%. Winter wheat conditions fell slightly on last week, with top producing state of Kansas interestingly declining 3 percentage points in the good/excellent category. Only time will tell if that is an indicator that stripe rust will have an adverse affect on yield there. The USDA say that 90% of the spring wheat crop is emerged. USDA export inspections were in line with expectations at 14.379m bu, accumulated exports to date lag last year by more than 4 MMT at 21.4 MMT.