Slow Planting Start For Corn

By: Paul Georgy

Planting progress for corn is 3% completed nationally. Weather forecasts suggests slow progress this week but the last week in April should allow for much better planting conditions for western 2/3 of Midwest. Winter wheat good to excellent conditions were down 1% to 34%. A French analyst has cut their estimate of 2014 wheat crop in the Black Sea Region by nearly 4 million tonnes which is 9% less than last year. They cut corn production by 3.9 million tonnes which would be down 14.2% from last year. They see the rising turmoil in the region and dry weather as the reason for the reduced production outlook. Other analysts are citing lack of available financing, fewer fertilizers and poor quality seeds mean spring crops in Ukraine and Russia will be more vulnerable than ever due to changeable weather this year. The National Oilseed Processors Association will release its monthly crush report today at 11:00 am. Trade estimates ahead of the report ranged from 140.1 million to 153.0 million bushels. The median was 146.5 million. The average would suggest a crush of 7% higher than last year and a very strong pace. In order to hit USDA’s target crush needs to run 3.2% below last year for the balance of the year. Weekly export shipments were well below trade expectation for soybeans however there were 267,939 tonnes loaded out last week. A major bank came out with their forecast for a negative return on commodity investments for the next 12 months, predicting a fall in precious metals, agriculture and energy. The decline will be led by a 15 percent drop in precious metals, 10 percent drop in agriculture, 2.5 percent drop in energy and a 4 percent decline in industrial metals. China is expected to intensify its efforts to promote crop insurance, with a goal to cover 60 percent of the country’s cultivated land by 2020. Market ready hog supplies are causing some packers to be dark during the Easter weekend. High prices have impacted weekly pork exports as it has fallen to the worst level this year. Hog slaughter is expected to continue to decline as the largest impact from PEDv should hit during summer months. Pork cutout values were down .35. Beef cutout values were mixed with choice up .40 and select down .41. With a short trading week it is expected that retailers will have enough inventory and will want to clean out the coolers going into Easter. Beef demand should improve next week as cookout season is near. The CME Feeder Index is 180.39.

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