2/20/2024

Soybeans gapped higher on the Sunday night open and a portion of those gaps remained open on the charts at the close on Monday.  Price action in corn was interesting to those who paid attention and it was a good little test for both sides.  After trading out to 5 higher, corn fell back to 3 lower before finding another bid and pushing back to end the day 2-3 cents higher.  We had two flash sale announcements from the USDA this morning.  First: 155,000 tonnes of corn for delivery to Japan in 2024/25; secondly: 228,000 tonnes of soybean meal for delivery to the Philippines in the 2023/24.  The weekly export inspections were in right in line with expectations.  Corn shipments totaled 919k tonnes last week, increasing corn's pace to 15 a million-bushel surplus over the USDA target.  Soybean inspections came in at 1.186 mln tonnes which improved their shipment pace from a 25-million-bushel deficit to a 22-million-bushel deficit.  We are starting to see some positive sentiment make its way into the market after the past two trading sessions but we need to some follow-through buying this week to create the foundation for a rally.