12/21/2020

Choppy trade overnight along with wide price swings in soybeans led to another round of sharply higher trade in the day session.  Until we receive final 2020 crop production numbers from the USDA in January, we will put more focus on outside market news and there is still plenty working in our favor.  Over the past few weeks, several countries have imposed export tariffs to limit sales while others have removed import taxes to encourage stockpiling commodities.  In time, these actions will most likely increase global demand and benefit US exports.  Big news over the weekend was that congress had come to an agreement on an economic stimulus package but enthusiasm over the legislation was offset by the discovery of a new Coronavirus strain in the UK and new travel bans.  Corn has been mostly supported by the momentum in the bean trade and a new set of travel bans would be negative for corn in terms of energy demand.  Over the weekend, Brazil did receive nice precipitaiton.  Compared to a year ago, we should expect their average yield to be lower but their total soybean crop to be larger based on added acres.  The question is if it will be enough to satisfy our current demand.