I saw Texas and Oklahoma have plenty also. We still haven't had any. The lawn is getting crisp. The Gov't crop forecast for corn has put price under pressure. Looks like soybeans was the place to be.
DJ US Cash Grain Outlook:Soy At 3-Year High, Corn At 3-Month Low
07/02/2007 -- 10:02
By Gary Wulf
of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
CENTRAL CITY, Neb. (Dow Jones)--Spot soybean prices stood at their highest level in almost 3 years at grain elevators across the US interior Monday - with spring wheat markets also at an 11-year top - even though cash corn languished at 3-month lows.
National cash prices offered for soybeans now average $7.66 per bushel, representing a $1.00 explosion since the end of April, a $2 rise during the past 12 months, and the loftiest level seen since mid-July of 2004.
Cash prices improved by 35 cents on Friday alone, as a 40 cent leap in futures ran roughshod over a 5 cent decline in average domestic basis.
"USDA's surprise plantings survey - which cut soybean acreage by 3 million acres under March intentions - trims more than 120 million bushels off projected 2007 supplies, making weather for the rest of the summer more crucial than ever," said Bryce Knorr of Farm Futures.
Friday's government plantings report also said US corn acreage is 19% larger this year, with the crop covering more land than at any other time since 1944, a fact that ultimately sent farm gate corn prices down about 9 cents on the day.
"(The) huge increase in acreage adds 350 million bushels to next year's balance sheet," noted Country Hedging analyst Kent Beadle.
The value of spring wheat improved however, as a half-cent rise in interior basis only added to Friday's 2 1/4 cent jump in Sep MGE futures, leaving elevators bidding an average of almost $5.83 for hard red spring wheat
"Spring wheat acreage was about 800,000 acres below market expectations at 13.1 million acres, down 12% from last year and the lowest since 1984," said Doane Agricultural Services.
Futures registered broad gains overnight, with cash contracts up about 8-12 cents for soybeans/winter wheat, and 3-5 cents for oats/corn/spring wheat.
"A stronger open across the board is expected this morning, as shock waves from Friday's USDA reports reverberate ahead of Wednesday's July 4 holiday," said Knorr.
All US futures exchanges - and many cash grain markets, except in areas actively harvesting winter wheat - will be closed July 4, in observance of the annual Independence Day holiday.
National cash price indices maintained at the Minneapolis Grain Exchange currently stand at $7.66 1/4 for soybeans, indicating an average basis level of -83 3/4 cents relative to July contracts at the CBOT. Domestic cash prices also average $3.18 3/4 for corn (-10 3/4 cents basis July CBOT corn), $5.48 for HRW (-47 cents basis KCBT Sep wheat), $5.14 1/4 for SRW (-67 3/4 cents basis CBOT July wheat) and $5.82 1/2 for HRS (-41 3/4 cents basis Sep MGE wheat).
CROP WEATHER
The Joint Agricultural Weather Facility housed at USDA said warm, mostly dry weather across the northern half of the Great Plains favors crop development, although rainshowers and wet fields continue to cause extensive fieldwork delays and "further degradation in the quality of unharvested winter wheat," in the southern Plains.
"In the Corn Belt, most areas recently completed a drier-than-normal June. Nevertheless, many summer crops remain in good shape, although stress has gradually increased - especially in the eastern Corn Belt for crops planted late in the spring," said agency meteorologist Brad Rippey. "Still, rain will be needed soon in much of the Midwest to prevent crop stress, as corn silks and soybeans bloom."
Drought continues to adversely affect most unirrigated summer crops in the Southeast and Delta, despite some scattered showers during recent weeks.
Rippey said the week will open with hot weather in the West and below-normal temperatures across the eastern half of the U.S., although heat will spread into the Midwest and interior South by mid-week.
"Meanwhile, showers and thunderstorms will continue for much of the week from the southeastern Plains into the drought-affected southeastern states," he added. "Little or no rain will fall across the majority of the Plains and the West, but locally heavy showers will spread southward from the Great Lakes."
-By Gary Wulf; Dow Jones Newswires; Gary.Wulf@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 02, 2007 10:02 ET (14:02 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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