Grain markets are mixed in quiet, overnight trade:
Corn unchanged (Mar @ 3.75 ½ )
Soybeans + 1 ½ cents/bu (Jan @ 8.98 ¾ )
Chi Wheat – 1 ¾ cents/bu (Mar @ 5.21)
Cdn $ -0.00080 (75.51 cents)
WTI Crude Oil -0.31/barrel (58.71)
Grain futures are consolidating ahead of the USDA December Crop Report, due out at noon EST today. Therefore, trade is very light, in a two sided affair with abnormally small trading ranges (corn 1 ¼ cent/bu, soybeans 3 ¾ cents/bu, and Chi Wheat 2 ½ cents/bu). Soybeans remain well supported after their recent 5 day rally, as Chinese buying interest continues to show itself (if the 30% Chinese import tariff is not applied, American soybeans are significantly less expensive that South American offers, until new crop Brazilian beans become available in late February). Recent Chinese bean purchases, and subsequent USA shipping has allowed year to date soybean exports out of the USA to climb to 115 million bushels AHEAD of last year’s pace for this time of year.
Corn market is not reacting much to the USDA harvest progress report yesterday, which showed corn harvest at 92% complete, 2% less than the trade anticipated, and less than the 100% complete that was enjoyed last year (and which is also the 5 year average). It is being reported that yesterday’s Crop Progress numbers will be the last report issued by the USDA until their spring Crop Progress numbers resume on April 6th, 2020.
South American weather continues to show good Brazilian rains, although overnight maps are dry for Argentina for the next 10 days, with better rain chances for them in the 11 to 15 day window.