Acreage and grain stocks report today

Market Line June 30, 2009 Traders will be digesting USDA numbers on planted acreage for spring crops and also quarterly grains stocks this morning. Positioning for the reports was a feature of Monday’s trade where wheat futures closed lower. Minneapolis continues to be the leader to the downside as funds may be withdrawing from that market.

Louise Gartner for the Linn Group at the Chicago Board of Trade says USDA reported the wheat harvest 40 percent complete to start this week.

Gartner: “As we are looking at the last half of harvest we expect to see much less harvest pressure coming into this market. Seasonally we would have the lows being carved out late June, early July. We are certainly in that window and the harvest quickly moving through Kansas would suggest we are about to move out of the heavy harvest pressure period very quickly.”

On Monday Chicago September wheat was down 5 ¼ cents at 5-57 ¾.

September corn down 7 ¼ at 3-84 ½. Portland soft white wheat and club wheat steady to three cents lower at mostly 5-70 with some club bids to 6-65.

August new crop soft white unchanged at 5-65 to 5-75. HRW 11.5 % protein down eight cents at 6-27. DNS 14% protein down a dime at 7-47. No Portland barley bids.

Expectations that packers may have to pay at least steady money this week helped cattle futures post big gains Monday. Technical support and short covering were also cited while bears thought the action was just wrapping up the quarter. August live cattle up three dollars at 85-40. August feeders up 2-75 at 101-72. August Class III milk down 21 cents at 10-78.

I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Market Line on the Northwest Ag Information Network.

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