3/21/2024

Mar 21, 2024


Grains popped big just after the overnight session opened.  Corn and soybeans chased to fresh highs for the move but quickly retreated.  Trade managed to hold on to some okay gains of 1-2 cents in corn and wheat and 2-4 cents in soybeans but were all well off of their highs.  A close higher of any kind after seeing that type of sell-off is an accomplishment.  We were also very close to hitting some pre-acres report price targets last night and the price action we experienced today is a prime example of why sell orders need to be working.  Given current Murdock basis: $4.05-4.10 cash corn, new crop corn at $4.25 or a Dec HTA between 480 and 485 futures.  Cash soybeans at $11.50-11.60, new crop soybeans at $11.50-11.70 or a Nov HTA between 1220-1240.  Weekly net export sales were mid-range for corn and soybeans with 1.186 mln tonnes of corn sold and 494k tonnes of soybeans sold last week.  As expected, wheat was a net cancellation of 110k tonnes.

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Aug 15, 2025
Corn and beans both had nice gains heading into the weekend.  Corn might seem terrible as of late, but for corn to only be down 2 cents since report day is impressive.  That was one of the most bearish reports for corn we have seen in quite some time.  Corn finished the week 13 cents off its lows and unchanged for the week.  New crop corn basis has softened a little on the week as the extra 2 million acres and 8 bushels of yield from the report has also scared a few exporters off. 
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.