US corn deteriorates, winter wheat harvest underway

US corn conditions worsened with 64pc of the crop in good to excellent condition, while soybeans are at 62pc good to excellent and winter wheat is 4pc harvested in the first reported numbers for the season for soybeans and winter wheat as of 4 of June, according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

With 96pc of the corn crop planted as compared with the five-year average of 91pc, crop development and conditions become the next focus of market participants. For the week ending 4 of June, 85pc of the corn crop had emerged as compared with 77pc for the five-year average. States such as Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin, that had a brisk pace to planting progress, show corn emergence significantly above the five-year average. Illinois has 91pc of the corn emerged versus the five-year average of 78pc, Indiana is at 85pc emerged as compared with the five-year average of 70pc, Michigan is 72pc emerged versus the five-year average of 61pc, Ohio is 80pc emerged as compared with the five-year average of 62pc and Wisconsin is 76pc emerged as compared with the five-year average of 70pc.

Corn conditions are 64pc in good to excellent condition and 6pc in poor to very poor, for the current week as compared with 69pc, and 5pc the prior week, respectively. Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin had conditions worsen the most for the 18 reported states. Illinois good to excellent corn conditions for the current week are 50pc as compared with the prior week of 69pc, Indiana good to excellent conditions are 62pc as compared with the prior week of 72pc, Michigan is 46pc good to excellent versus 66pc the prior week, Ohio is 64pc good to excellent as compared with 81pc last week and Wisconsin good to excellent condition is 72pc as compared with 82pc the prior week.

Topsoil moisture in those five states saw some of the largest increases in very short to short conditions. Illinois very short to short topsoil moisture was 72pc for the current week as compared with 42pc last week, Indiana was 68pc very short to short for the week as compared with 40pc the prior week, Michigan has 88pc very short to short as compared with 68pc the prior week, Ohio is 76pc very short to short versus last week at 45pc and Wisconsin was 64pc very short to short as compared with 45pc the prior week.

Similar to corn, soybeans planting is nearly complete with 91pc of the crop planted for the current week as compared with 76pc for the five-year average. In the USDA first reporting week for soybean conditions, 62pc of the crop is rated good to excellent and 7pc of very poor to poor with 74pc of the crop emerged as compared with the five-year average of 56pc.

Winter wheat crop conditions slightly improved with 34pc of the crop currently rated poor to very poor as compared with 35pc the prior week. The winter wheat harvest has begun with 4pc of the crop harvested, in line with the five-year average.

Spring wheat planting is in line with its five-year average at 93pc complete, with 64pc of the crop rated good to excellent in the first week reported.

By Eduardo Gonzalez