Focus shifts to global production

Now that we are past the U.S. planting season, we are seeing a shift in market attitude. Now is when analysts start placing more attention on crop development and if we are seeing any stress.

This will make the weekly condition reports more of a factor in price discovery. Now is when many analysts take the weekly condition reports on U.S. crops and try to predict final yield potential. This is very difficult and nearly impossible to accurately determine.

What weekly condition reports can do, however, is indicate crop health. This can give a general idea of yield potential without determining yield.

While the U.S. is in the midst of its growing season, all interest in South America is shifting to the next planting season down there. This is primarily on the Brazilian soybean crop, where a...