Rainfall in Argentina and frost in Ukraine will affect grain markets in the near future

Traders' attention is focused on the weather factors that will have the biggest impact on agricultural crops markets in the 1st quarter, in particular the drought that continues to worsen crop forecasts in Argentina and the weather in Ukraine that prevented the corn harvest.

At the end of December in Ukraine, corn was threshed on only 81% of the areas, but dry weather in January allowed farmers to continue harvesting almost without losses. A slight drop in temperature is expected next week, which in the absence of precipitation will dry the soil and speed up harvesting.

Dry weather remains in Argentina, and temperatures are expected to rise next week. As early as the middle of the week, heavy showers will reduce the heat and improve the condition of the soybean and corn crops suffering from drought.

In the south of Brazil, there is still a deficit of precipitation, but at the end of the week the front will bring rain there. In the northern and central regions, sufficient rainfall favors the development of first-harvest soybean and corn crops.

Snow and rain are expected in the Midwest and the Central and Southern Plains, but temperatures are above normal, which continues to improve the condition of the winter wheat crop.