Grains are mixed at midday:
Dec Corn + ¾ cent/bu (5.33)
Nov Soybeans + 5 ¼ cents/bu (12.47 ¼ )
Dec Chi Wheat – 3 cents/bu (7.43)
Cdn $ +0.00220 (79.635 cents)
WTI Crude Oil +0.85/barrel (78.38)
Grains have shaken off early market declines to sit steady/unchanged at midday. At the opening bell, grains were lower, with corn trading down almost 5 cents/bu, soybeans trading down 8 ½ cents/bu, and Chicago wheat trading down 6 ½ cents/bu. Initial weakness in grain was in part attributed to weakness in crude oil prices, following the Biden administration’s statement that it is considering releasing oil from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve as an attempt to cool down energy prices. This was last done by the Obama administration in 2011. Markets have gained strength on news that both sides of Congress have appeared to made a deal to fund the US federal government, avoiding a shut down on Oct 18th. US equities are trading higher, with Dow futures up 525 points @ 34,816, while WTI crude oil has rebounded to trade higher after trading down as much as $2.47 per barrel.
This morning , the USDA released it’s Weekly Export Sales Report for the week ended Thursday, September 30th. Sales were generally good, beating the highest trade guess for corn, and near the top end of expectations for soybeans. China was the largest buyer of soybeans last week @ 671,000 tonnes (24.7 million bushels), while Mexico was the largest buyer of corn @ 801,000 tonnes (31.5 million bushels). Actual sales data is listed below, in thousands of tonnes:
This morning, the USDA announced a couple of Flash Export Sales to Mexico, one for 261,264 tonnes (9.6 million bushels) of soybeans, and another for 314,256 tonnes (12.4 million bushels) of corn.
Next Tuesday, the USDA will release it’s October Crop Report, with a wide range of trade estimates regarding 2021 yields, and projected 2021/22 carry out stocks.
