Mark's Market Talk

We are less than a week away from Christmas and the commodity markets are having trouble deciding if they will reward us with higher markets. This past week corn was up a little while beans were a little lower. Demand continues to be the big factor. Beans sales were good again last week as we remain competitive in the world market while South America is between crops. That will change sometime in January as the Brazil harvest begins and they have beans to ship to China. At that point we will become a secondary source of raw beans. We may continue to ship more bean meal as Argentina struggles to find enough beans to crush to fill their meal orders. Corn exports perked up just a little last week. If we have an opportunity to sell corn, the time is the next 2 to 3 months. We currently have the most available supply in the world of quality corn. South America will not have much for a few months until their next corn crop is ready. Ukraine has corn to ship, but with the renewed shelling from the Russian forces, buyers are hesitant to buy large amounts from them. Insurance companies have raised the rates they charge ships entering the Black Sea to cover their risk. Plus raising the cost some, grain quality is becoming a bigger issue for this grain as it has not been stored properly. There are reports that a third of the Ukraine corn remains unharvested. The farmers there are short of fuel and repairs, and they are becoming wearier of getting injured or killed trying to finish harvest. Farmers battle a lot of elements in our country to bring a crop in. However, having a bomb land in your field is not one of them. With that we all need to count our blessings that we live in a free country and can freely celebrate Christmas and the new year. So, as we gather this holiday season lets give thanks to those that have fought to keep us free. Some gave the ultimate sacrifice, and we need to be eternally grateful to them.