Grains close mostly positive:
Corn – 6 1/2 cents/bu (May @ 5.53 1/4) ß But new crop is positive
Soybeans + 10 3/4 cents/bu (May @ 14.12 3/4)
Chi Wheat + 7 cents/bu (May @ 6.18)
Cdn $ +0.00260 (79.850 cents)
WTI Crude Oil -2.80/barrel (58.65)
All grains were higher today with the exception of old crop corn. New crop soybean and corn futures continue to battle for acres, as the U.S. is on track for tightening of supplies going forward.
The USDA announced a sale of 130,000mt (4.8 million bushels) of U.S. soft red winter wheat for 2021/22 delivery to unknown destinations. Wheat seemed to like this news as it finished in the positives today.
The export inspections report was released this morning for the week ending March 1st. Corn and soybean exports were on the higher end of expectations, with wheat surpassing expectations. Wheat export shipments to date exceed the seasonal pace needed to hit USDA’s target by 27 million bushels (24 million previous week), while soybean shipments exceed by 258 million bushels (274 million), and corn shipments exceed the pace by 106 million bushels (88 million).
| In Million Bushels | Actual | Estimates | Last Week | 10-Week Average |
| Corn | 75.3 | 43.3-82.7 | 67.7 | 64.6 |
| Soybeans | 11.0 | 5.5-18.4 | 16.2 | 39.4 |
| Wheat | 21.8 | 11-20.2 | 11.3 | 17.4 |
The crop progress report was out at 5pm today after being delayed this afternoon. The USDA pegged the corn planting progress at 2%, matching the five-year average for the week. The winter wheat crop was rated 53% Good to Excellent this week, down from 62% a year ago, but matching trade expectations. Spring wheat planting progress is 3% as of Sunday, up from the five-year average of 2% for the week.
Funds are expected to be mixed with corn projected to have sold 15,000 contracts (long 408,000), soybeans to have bought 5,000 contracts (long 159,000), and wheat to have bought 7,000 contracts (short 5,000).
NEW- Agronomy Email Commentaries
Wanstead Farmers Co-operative is excited to be announcing that we are providing a new service of weekly emails on local crop analysis! Each Wednesday, Wanstead will send out an email of crop information that our agronomists feel is important. This may include what they are seeing while crop scouting, what local farmers are doing in the fields this week, and what farmers should watch out for, or be aware of. We know that it is harder to have your coffee house chats, so we wanted to provide a service that helps our Wanstead customers stay connected to their farming community. If you are interested in receiving these updates, please send me an email and I will add you to the list! meganm@wansteadfarmerscoop.com