11/16/2020

NOPA October soybean crush jumps to a record-high 185.245 million bushels, which is a massive number.  Beans were trading unchanged when that number came out and we managed to finish up a nickel.  There were no new export sales announced today, but China is rumored to be looking for April/May corn.  Rail freight has fell flat on its face the past couple weeks and has the nearby trading at slight unders.  The BNSF running 150 grain shuttles might have something to do with that.  Weekend rail performance was poor, so we will see what that means for values this week.  Grain bids on the rail have nearly disappeared for both corn and beans as new purchases have dried up as of late.  The exporter feels more than covered for the time being and waiting for that next round of business to show up before they try to buy more.  Farmer selling has really slowed down, which is getting the processors to start to perk their bids and become competitive with the export markets.  Corn and beans will be hard to buy the balance of this calendar year, so basis will likely continue to improve slowly.  There was another announcement by the U.S. pharmaceutical company Moderna that their Covid vaccine is ready and 94.5% effective, which is helping the outside markets as well today.