Mark's Market Talk for March 3, 2025

We sure don’t need any more down weeks like we saw last week in the markets. Early in the week the new tariffs were off for another month. However, late Thursday Trump announced the tariffs were taking effect March 4^th. The market was already skittish and this sent them lower. At the end of the week May corn was down 35 cents and beans were 31 lower. The Outlook Conference released their acreage numbers Thursday morning, and their numbers matched earlier estimates. They predict the US planting 94 million acres of corn and 84 million acres of beans this spring. If the corn gets planted, we could see next year’s carryout approach a short 2 billion bushels, which is not a bullish number. On the bean side the US carryout could come down 200 million bushels, but the world supply is still burdensome. Old crop grain may have a tough go ahead of it until we get closer to planting and any possible delays. The weather is stable right now and the bean harvest in Brazil speeds right along. Corn planters are running right behind the combines. One hope for us is the current dry weather there  could reduce their corn yields, however it is too early in the season to rely on this happening.