Grains are mostly higher to close:
Sept Corn unchanged (5.71 3/4)
Dec Corn + 2 3/4 cents/bu (5.68 1/2)
Nov Soybeans + 1 1/4 cents/bu (13.93 )
Sept Chi Wheat + 10 1/4 cents/bu (7.10 3/4)
Cdn $ 0.00840 (79.61 cents)
WTI Crude Oil +3.10/barrel (70.30)
Right now we are moving mostly in a weather market. The Canadian Prairies and the U.S. Midwest continue to burn up, promoting some weather premium in the wheat and corn markets. Impacts on yields wont be known for months, but with corn now entering it’s pollination phase, dryness is always a concern.
The EIA Report was released today for the week ending July 16th. It showed that commercial crude oil stocks increased 2.1 million barrels to 439.7 million barrels (5-month high). Ethanol stocks also increased 1.4 million barrels, while ethanol production decreased 13 thousand barrels per day to 1,028 thousand barrels per day.
In Canadian news, Bloomberg reported today that the number of rail cars unloading grain at the Port of Vancouver the first week of July fell 77% y-o-y as wildfires hindered rail movement.
In the U.S., the Biden Administration held off on moving any new biofuel mandates yesterday due to political reasons. Some senators have also drafted a bill that would eliminate ethanol mandate in gasoline production, which was be a major blow to the domestic ethanol (and corn) market. Ethanol production for gasoline accounts for 35% of the domestic corn usage. This is weakening the soyoil market (and therefore putting pressure on the soybean market), as the market is nervous that biodiesel demand may be adversely impacted.
Funds were thought to be mostly buyers today.