The early calls for the commodities on Wednesday, March 20, 2013, are higher. Corn is seen opening 2-4 cents higher. Soybeans are seen 9-11 cents higher and wheat 9-11 cents higher.
In overnight trading, the May corn futures contract traded 2 cents higher at $7.31 per bushel. May soybean futures traded 9 cents higher at $14.16 per bushel, and May wheat traded 9 cents higher at $7.31. For May soybean meal futures, the contract traded $3.40 per short ton higher at $415.00. May soybean oil futures traded $0.16 cents higher at $49.69.
The outside markets are favorable for Wednesday's grain trade. The real factors driving the calls will be the higher overnight markets.
Jeff Coleman, the Trean Group analyst and CME Group pit trader, says that the grain markets strong close from yesterday continued into the overnight session. Corn, soybeans and wheat futures are all showing gains heading into the opening of the trading floors.
"Can we hold these gains? Once again, we are hearing about the cold wet weather in the Midwest putting a damper on expectations of early planting and news continues to trickle out about our grain stocks being less than we had thought," Coleman says.
Wheat under the $7 level has become attractive to Asia, namely Bangladesh, and the rest of the world, he says.
"US fuel prices are keeping ethanol on our minds even as some analysts are calling for a cut in the ethanol mandate. Wednesday looks like an active day for grains mainly from the long side," he says.
