CBOT Closing Comments

July soybeans closed at $11.69, up 7 cents, whilst November soybeans finished at $10.14 1/2, up 18 1/2 cents. Firmer crude oil and US equities added underlying strength to a bean market already buoyed by the tightest projected stocks to usage rate in history. In Argentina the Argentine Rural Confederation, or CRA, now peg the 2009 soybean crop at just 30.5 MMT, dramatically slashed by drought from early season expectations of a crop of 50 MMT. The trade will be scrutinising tomorrow's USDA weekly export sales report to see if China keeps coming back for more.

July CBOT wheat finished at $5.97 3/4, up 9 cents, posting wheat's highest levels since January as US spring wheat plantings continue to be dogged by weather. Plantings are 50% complete as of Sunday, according to the USDA, well behind the five-year average of 90 percent. Persistent wet weather is also now starting to have a detrimental effect on winter wheat too, traders say.

July corn closed at $4.26, up a quarter of a cent. Firmer outside markets, particularly crude oil and a weak dollar provided some support although a warmer, drier weather outlook should aid US plantings this week. There is some suggestion that fund money is starting to come back into the grains complex after investors got their fingers badly burnt last year.