Grain markets are mixed in overnight trading:
Corn – ½ cent/bu (Mar @ 3.76 ¼ )
Soybeans + 7 ½ cents/bu (Jan @ 8.97 )
Chi Wheat – 1 ½ cents/bu (Mar @ 5.23 )
Cdn $ +0.00060 (75.455 cents)
WTI Crude Oil -0.59/barrel (58.61)
Soybean market continues to grind higher, as speculation builds over the potential for China to return to bean buying in a big way. No major news announcements over the weekend with respect to trade talk progress, but Chinese customs data this morning shows that China imported 8.28 million tonnes of soybeans in November, up from 6.18 million tonnes in October. Year to date January through November Chinese soybean imports now sit near 79 million tonnes, versus 82.1 million tonnes during the same period in 2018. This week will ultimately define what happens to Chinese/USA trade over the next months, as new USA import tariffs are scheduled to be implemented this Sunday, December 15th.
Brazil continues to receive good rains, while Argentina remains dry.
Later today, the USDA will release it’s Weekly Export Inspections Report (11 am EST), and it’s Weekly Crop Progress Report (4 pm). Tomorrow, we will get the USDA December Crop Report, which is not expected to provide too much excitement, as the December report is usually a bit of a yawner. The danger tomorrow might be the government raising corn ending stocks, due to the slow pace of exports year to date.