10/14/2020

Oct 14, 2020


10/14/2020
China showed up on the sales today and the markets rebounded on the news.  They announced 264,000 metric ton of beans to China and 420,000 metric ton of corn to China.  Corn spreads went crazy on the news with Dec - July finishing at 9 cents carry.  That doesn't feel right with a 2.1 million carryout and an export that is front loaded with bean business through December.  Who wants the corn right away besides Ethanol when harvest is over?  The farmer is a reluctant seller at the moment on his corn crop as the bean sales covered the need for cash.  Last night harvest progress had corn at 41% and beans at 61%.  It is going quick and it looks like weather will allow that to continue for the balance of the month.  There is talk of improved chances for rain in parts of Brazil and Argentina, but current supplies remain tight.  The volatility is here to stay for a while not only in the cash market, but the spreads as well.
 

Read More News

May 12, 2025
News broke Sunday that the USA and China have agreed to ease tensions and lower tariffs.  The US is lowering tariffs on Chinese goods from 145% to 30%.  China is lowering their import tariffs from 125% to 10%.  Talks will resume in the coming weeks.  This news had stocks, grains and oil higher overnight. Then of course we had a USDA grain report come out at 11:00 this morning.  That was also a bit friendly.
Mar 31, 2025
USDA reported corn planting acres at 95.326 million acres of corn, which would be up a little more than 5% from 2024's final number and the second highest March figure of the last ten years behind only 2020's estimate of 96.99 mil acres.  US corn stocks as of March 1st were seen at 81.51 billion bushels, which was exactly what the trade had expected and was down just over 2% from March 1 of 2024.  USDA said farmers intended to plant 83.495 million acres of soybeans, which would be down about 4% from last year and was just a hair smaller than what the trade was looking for.  March 1 soybean stocks were pegged at 1.91 billion bu's, which again was nearly exactly as the trade had expected, and was up 3.5% compared to March 1, 2024.
Mar 11, 2025
The monthly USDA WASDE report was today and it was about as boring as it can get.  The USDA took the month off leaving corn and beans carryouts unchanged.  Corn remains at 1.540 billion bushels and beans at 380 million bushels.  World ending stocks were slightly lowered on both corn and beans.  World corn was pegged at 288.94 million tonnes vs 290.3 million tonnes previously.  World beans were pegged at 121.4 million tonnes vs 124.3 million tonnes previously.  All of the South American crop production estimates were also left unchanged.