eCBOT Close, Early Call

The overnights all closed lower Monday, continuing to digest Friday's USDA data. US weather for the week ahead looks set to remain non-threatening, and crude oil is lower which adds to the bearish tone.

Record US soybean production looks set to be followed by record Brazilian and Argentine production if the weather plays ball.

Additional pressure comes from the USDA also raising its 2008/09 and 2009/10 soybean ending stocks from its previous forecasts.

The USDA pegged global wheat production 4MMT higher than last month at 663MMT (682MMT in 2008/09) on the back of higher production in the EU and Russia. The increase in production leads to ending stocks for the 2009/10 season of 186MMT (169MMT in 2008/09).

The USDA only trimmed its Chinese corn production estimate by 2.5 MMT to 160 MMT, some reports suggest that around 145 MMT is closer to the truth. Reports today suggest that output in China's top producing region of Jilin is likely to be 30% down on last year.

Egypt's Agriculture Ministry are to cut state-fixed wheat seed prices by half in an attempt to encourage more farmers to plant for next season in the world's largest importer of wheat.

Early calls for this afternoon's CBOT session are: soybeans down 8 to 10 cents, corn down 3 to 5 cents, wheat down 6 to 8 cents.