3/18/2022

Volatility continues to wind down in what was likely the lightest trading volume day we've had thus far in 2022.  Corn traded a 10-15 cent range and soybeans 15-35 cents to finish the week in mixed fashion but relatively close to unchanged.  Trade all week was choppy and sideways as the market action did not necessarily reflect any news headlines or fresh fundamentals as both were very limited other than routine reports.  The geo-political climate appears to be more important than actual cash grain trade on our markets.  Anything involving Ukraine and Russia has been traded 100x one way or another at this point.  The market remains fluid with the situation but has become numb to the ever-changing headlines revolving around it.  It seems as though China now wants to get involved and grab some attention away for themselves.  If the U.S. were to impose any type of sanctions on China as a direct result, it would likely be unfriendly for our grains and proteins.  There's not a good example in history of these sanctions actually doing any good.  They never hurt countries, just the people inside their borders.  Cash grain weekly closes: cash corn down 14 cents and new crop corn down 2 cents, cash soybeans are 11 cents lower on the week and new crop soybeans 20 cents lower.  There are a lot of fundamentals for this market to digest over the next couple of weeks with the grain stocks and planting intentions reports at the end of the month and another round of WASDE numbers the following week.