Grains in the red ahead of WASDE. Thursday, April 11, 2024

May corn is down less than a penny this morning.

May soybeans are down a penny.

CBOT wheat is down 2¾¢. KC wheat is down 4½¢. Minneapolis wheat is down 3¢.

This morning USDA released the weekly Export Sales report. Naomi Blohm, senior market advisor with Total Farm Marketing, says “corn was terrible coming in at 325,500 [metric] tons, below expectations of 750,000 to 1,300,000. Beans and wheat were within expectations.”

Blohm also says Conab, Brazil’s agricultural agency, released updated production numbers today. She says Conab estimates soybean production for the 2023/2024 year at 146.522 million metric tons (mmt), down from 146.859 mmt in March. For corn, she says the agency pegged production at 110.96 mmt, down from 112.75 in March.

At 11 a.m. CDT USDA is expected to release the April World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report. USDA’s March estimates for Brazilian corn and soybean production were much higher than Conab’s: 124 mmt for corn and 155 mmt for soybeans. Although, analysts say USDA likes to make small incremental changes. For example, USDA’s soybean estimate for Brazil was lowered from 157 mmt in January to 156 mmt in February and 155 mmt in March.

“It should be a quiet report other than seeing if USDA tries to close the large gap between Conab’s corn and soybean production estimates, and its own estimates,” says Arlan Suderman, chief commodities economist for StoneX. “Otherwise, the report is expected to confirm that global supplies of both are adequate to meet demand at this point, leaving traders to focus on weather and geopolitical risks in the days and weeks ahead, with the Black Sea garnering attention at an escalating pace in recent days and weeks.

Live cattle are down 63¢ this morning. Feeder cattle are down 68¢. Lean hogs are up 68¢.

Crude oil is down 61¢.

The U.S. Dollar Index June contract is up to 105.06.

S&P 500 futures are down 8 points. Dow futures are down 152 points.

Tags: lean hogs, corn, soybeans, wheat, futures, live cattle, feeder cattle