Mark's Market Talk for December 18, 2023

We are a week away from Christmas and the board of trade is acting like the holidays are here all ready. Trade volume normally decreases close to Christmas, but this year it seems it has slowed early. Lower trade volumes normally equate to a lower trade. Last week corn gained a couple cents while beans finished the week 12 cents higher. New news is hard to find. The weather in South America continues to get a lot of attention as one day the forecast is hot/dry and the next day they put rain chances in. We will wake up some morning and the combines will be running down there and then we can trade some real yield numbers. Until then it may be a back-and-forth trade. We have had a bean sale announcement everyday this month as China has been buying large lots of US beans. We have the largest supply in the world and currently we are the most competitive in price. Last month’s bean crush was a record 189 million bushels. Part of this is due to some new capacity coming online. Another positive from last week was the announcement that the Biden administration appears to be ready to support tax credits for the making of sustainable aviation fuel. However, this may get tied to being able to sequester the carbon dioxide from the plants making this fuel. This new form of biofuel would be a big market boost as all industries are looking for greener fuel. If this bears fruit it will be down the road just a bit. Some argue the government should not be supporting biofuels with tax exemptions; however, the EV industry would not survive if it wasn’t for government support. Neither would wind turbines or solar panels. If we want to make this county more energy independent, it will take tax payers dollars. This will be the last grain blog you will see before Christmas. Therefore, I want to wish everyone a joyous holiday season. We have so much to be thankful so spend time with your loved ones as you celebrate the season.