8/18/2022

Trade was two-sided and choppy as corn and soybeans struggle to find direction while the market tries to figure out what this year's production will be. December corn traded 8 higher and November soybeans were 23 higher near the mid-day point but, once again, a largely negative wheat trade (30-38 lower) acted as an anchor and pulled corn and beans off of their highs. Overall, soybeans appear to be set up for an ideal finish for a good crop and, although corn maybe missed an ideal big rain by the matter of a handful of days, the outlook appears to be average yields for the US corn crop. Weekly export sales for old crop corn came in at 99k tonnes of net sales, only about 1/3 of what is needed for the next few weeks to meet the USDA target for the year. Old crop soybeans were reported at 97k tonnes of net sales. New crop sales came in over the top of expectations for corn with 750k tonnes sold and new crop beans came in strong 1.303 mln tonnes sold last week, doubling up the high trade estimate. New crop sales continue to lag behind last year's pace for corn but new crop soybean sales on the books are excellent. As of this morning, a total of 25 grain carrying vessels have now departed from Ukraine. Continue to look at rolling your December corn hedges to March, a move that would still net you 6 cents of carry at the close today.