Grain futures closed in lower territories on Monday as crop progress passes important milestones

Grain futures closed in lower territories on Monday as crop progress passes important milestones.

Meanwhile, In weather news, daytime highs start the week seasonally warm across much of the central U.S., however cooler-than-normal weather are expected across the Great Lakes region over the next several days. The latest seven-day cumulative precipitation forecasts from NOAA show the upper Midwest most likely to get 1” to 2” of additional rainfall between now and July 17, including large parts of the Dakotas, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.

Furthermore, China’s commerce ministry reports that it plans to use the funds it collects from its tariffs of U.S. goods to help Chinese companies deal with U.S. tariffs directed at China.

Regarding oil news, The U.S. West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil August futures were trading higher by 0.2 percent to close the session at 74 USD per barrel and is currently trading at 74.30 USD per barrel at 8:00 GMT.

Meanwhile, Brent Oil September futures were higher to trade at 78.12 USD per barrel at the close in Monday sessions and is currently trading at 78.60 USD per barrel at 8:00 GMT.

Wheat:

CBOT September Wheat Futures traded at 5.07-3/4 USD per bushel at the close of the session, down by 0.14 percent.

Additionally, inspections last week totaled 9.9 million bushels, falling just below the average trade estimate of 10 million to 14 million bushels. It also fell slightly behind the prior week’s total of 12 million bushels and moderately behind the weekly rate needed to reach USDA forecasts.

Furthermore, The European Union completed the first week of its 2018/19 soft wheat marketing year for wheat, which began on July 1st, and reports 7.7 million bushels in exports down by 9.1 percent from the start of 2017/18.

In exports, Russia’s Wheat exports between January and May reached 628.3 million bushels, a big jump from the country’s total of 371.1 million bushels over the same period last year.

Initial volume estimates were for 82,888 CBOT contracts, moderately below Friday’s final count of 108,740.

Corn:

CBOT September Corn Futures fell 0.9 percent in Monday session to close at 3.54 USD per bushel, amid limited demand for additional sales.

Furthermore, CBOT September Corn Futures fell on the beginning of the week as weather forecasts for pollination have come in mostly favorable so far. Losses were limited by another round of moderately good export data.

Exports last week came in at a healthy 57 million bushels, lower than the prior week’s total of 60 million bushels, but on the high end of the trade estimates, which ranged between 32.9 million and 63 million bushels. Additionally, Japan was the number one destination, with 15.3 million bushels. And the European Union corn exports reached 8.7 million bushels from July 1-8 gaining more than 19 percent from the same period a year ago.

Initial volume estimates were for 193,804 CBOT contracts, down more than 27 percent from Friday’s final count of 267,859.

Soybean

CBOT August Soybean Futures closed lower to trade at 8.55-3/4 USD per bushel amid renewed nervousness around the latest U.S.-China trade tariffs, which were enacted last Friday.

Additionally, Soybean export inspections reached 24.1 million bushels last week, coming in moderately below prior week’s total of 31 million bushels but landing in the middle of trade expectations which ranged between 13.1 million and 33 million bushels. Egypt was the number one destination, with 8 million bushels.

Initial volume estimates were for 160,990 CBOT contracts, falling 29 percent below Friday’s final count of 227,640.