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.
 

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Aug 12, 2025
The USDA report today didn't treat the corn market very well.  Both corn acres and yield were higher the result has corn carryout over 2.1 billion bushels.  Corn yield was pegged at 188.8 bpa vs an estimate of 184.29 bpa.  How high is 188.8?  Well…the previous record was 179.3.  Planted corn acres were put at 97.3 million.  Total corn production is estimated at 16.742 billion bushels, which is 763 million more than the report estimates.
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.