Grains, led by corn, have found a bid after hitting a trade war-related low on Monday. President Trump talking up the prospect of a trade deal in June, following the latest failure and together with a very slow planting progress in the US, have triggered what was a long overdue bout of short-covering from funds holding a record short across the sector.
During the spring planting period, the US Department of Agriculture provides the market with a progress report every Monday at 20:00 GMT. The latest report highlights the impact of the US midwest having been inundated with rain for weeks. Many fields have been left flooded, preventing US farmers from making meaningful progress.
Only 30% of the corn crop has been planted. That is the slowest pace since 2013 and trails the five-year average by 66%. Soybean planting is off to the worst start in six years but a change towards drier conditions could trigger a rapid pick-up in the planting speed.