Grains closed mixed on Monday:

Mar Corn + 9 cents/bu (6.14 ¾ )

Jan Soybeans + 30 ½ cents/bu (13.62 ½ )

Mar Chi Wheat  - 10 ¾ cents/bu (8.04)

Cdn $ +0.00065 (78.155 cents)

WTI Crude Oil +$1.90/barrel (75.69)

Monday saw corn and soybean futures trade in positive territory all day, with both grains closing within a penny of their highs, while wheat was unable to hang on to early gains, and closed near it’s lows for the day.  In low volume holiday trade, row crops were supported by building dryness in Argentina and southern Brazil, while wheat was pressured by further evidence of bigger production potential in South America and Russia.

The morning started with the USDA confirming a Flash Export Sale for 269,240 tonnes of corn for delivery to unknown destinations in 2021/22.  That news allowed corn futures to race to a new high for the day, but the USDA subsequently released it’s Weekly Export Inspection Report for shipments last week which proved to show recent exports on the low end of expectations.  28.3 million bushels of corn was exported, with 5.4 million bushels headed for China.  58 million bushels of soybeans were exported, with the Chinese taking 27.6 million.  10 million bushels of wheat was exported, but the Chinese did not take any.  Wheat year to date shipments trail the pace needed to meet the USDA 2021/22 export target by 26 million bushels, corn exports trail the pace required by 175 million bushels, while soybean exports exceed the pace needed to hit this year’s annual target by 21 million bushels.  The concern for soybean exports going forward is that Brazilian bean harvest is about to begin in earnest, which is early in the grand scheme of things, so USA soybean exports needs to accelerate before less expensive South American new crop beans start to hit China.

In the meantime, the December rally for corn and soybeans has row crops in a technically friendly chart pattern.  In the absence of forecast rains in Argentina and southern Brazil weather maps today, speculators were more than happy to add to their long positions on Monday.  North American farmers were also noticeably absent from the market today.  In the meantime, outside markets seem to be shaking off fears of rising Omicron COVID infections, as energies and equities shook off early morning weakness to surge higher this afternoon.  USA Dow futures are up another 287 points (36,119) at the time of writing this update.

On the day, funds were believed to have been buyers of 10,000 corn contracts (now long 365,000), buyers of 15,000 soybean contracts (now long 97,000), while be credited with selling an estimated 3,000 Chicago wheat contracts (now short 1,000).