Mark's Market Talk for December 9, 2024

We saw a small recovery last week in the grain markets as corn closed 7 cents higher and beans were up 4 cents. March corn is trading right at the resistance level around 4.40. This is almost 80 cents above the front month low we saw a few months ago. Export sales and domestic usage have combined to push the corn market higher. The trick will be to get more sales on the books before the first South American corn crop hits the market in the spring. For beans it was just a small bounce week after losing a lot of steam the week before. The SA bean crop is now planted, and their weather is currently noneventful. They are on track to produce a large crop, and their pricing shows this as their new crop beans are well below our March asking price. The USDA will release their December crop report this Tuesday. Most traders are calling this report a non-eventful event. However, we have all seen these little reports carry a big stick at times. They will not adjust yields this month as they do that in January. The expectation is they will raise corn usage possibly both domestic and export demand. Basis levels have remained steady the past couple of weeks. The question is how much grain will move in January and will it be enough to weaken the basis. It appears there will not be as much grain money deferred this year so there may be more producers needing to make January sales. If you are one of those producers keep your eyes open to the local markets in the coming month.