DTN Closing Grain Comments 04/13 13:54

DTN Closing Grain Comments 04/13 13:54 Grain Futures Prices Overcome Lower Start, End Mostly Higher Wednesday May contracts of corn, soybeans and all three U.S. wheats overcame lower starts early Wednesday and finished higher at the closing bell. May corn was up 7 1/4 cents, reaching a new contract high of $7.83 1/2. Todd Hultman DTN Lead Analyst GENERAL COMMENTS: May corn closed up 7 1/4 cents and December corn was up 4 3/4 cents. May soybeans closed up 5 3/4 cents and November soybeans were down 1 1/4 cents. May KC wheat closed up 11 1/4 cents, May Chicago wheat was up 8 3/4 cents and May Minneapolis wheat was up 2 3/4 cents. The June U.S. Dollar Index is trading down 0.40 at 99.89. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 251.82 points at 34,472.18. June gold is up $6.70 at $1,982.80, May silver is up $0.26 at $25.99 and May copper is up $0.0065. May crude oil is up $3.51 at $104.11, May heating oil is up $0.2443, May RBOB gasoline is up $0.1297 and May natural gas is up $0.317.C ORN:After a lower start Wednesday, May corn closed up 7 1/4 cents, finishing at a new contract high of $7.83 1/2, its highest May price in over nine years. There continues to be plenty of bullish support for corn prices and Tuesday's announcement from President Joe Biden that sales of E-15 would be allowed to continue through the summer added another small contribution to the bullish arguments. War in Ukraine plus concerns about an increasingly dry forecast for Brazil where the second corn crop is just getting established continue to be the larger reasons for corn's higher prices. This week's forecast for Argentina is also dry where roughly one-third of the corn crop is considered mature and will soon see harvest pick up. Here in the U.S., planting has begun in southern states, but the bulk of the Corn Belt has yet to start. North Dakota is experiencing a blizzard that is expected to move out Thursday. Scattered showers are crossing the central and Eastern Corn Belt Wednesday, following incidents of severe weather Tuesday evening. On the demand side, there have been no new sales announcements since Monday's 40.2-million-bushel (mb) sale to China. The U.S. Energy Department said ethanol production slipped from 1.003 million barrels per day (bpd) last week to 995,000 bpd. The slightly lower production plus demand helped ethanol inventory fall from 25.9 million barrels to 24.8 million barrels. U.S. crude oil production remained at 11.8 million bpa, still down 1.2 million bpd from the pre-pandemic peak. Technically, the trend remains up in May corn with strong bullish concerns lending support. DTN's National Corn Index ended at $7.56 Tuesday evening, its highest price in over nine years and 17 cents below the July contract. Other commodities are mostly higher and the June U.S. Dollar Index is trading lower after the Labor Department reported an 11.2% annual gain in March producer prices, higher than was expected.