- Monday markets in Chicago have shown an upward surge of some significance as cold and wet weather forecasts continue to plague central areas of the US and add to the delays in corn and soybean planting pace. In addition, the conditions which will follow will not be conducive to getting newly planted crops off to a good start.
- Fund buying has been in evidence amid large volume trade today and the size of net fund shorts in both corn and wheat is likely to be sharply reduced at the close of play tonight.
- To add to the woes of US farmers, the northern spring wheat region is at the mercy of flooding from sudden and strong warming that has melted thick snow cover. Reported temperatures in North Dakota, the second largest wheat state after Kansas, reached 21℃ (70℉), significantly higher than the 2℃ (36℉) of last week. What impact this will have on crop development is, as yet, unknown.The strength of Chicago is likely to spill over into early trade in Europe when markets open on Tuesday as gains did not fully match those in the US.
- Finally, dry conditions continue to prevail across wheat growing regions in western Russia, Ukraine and Australia. It is too early to suggest that crops in these regions are at any risk at the moment, but the need for moisture is becoming important and the weather should be watched closely for rainfall, or its lack, in coming weeks.