Mark's Market Talk

The trade was tough on the corn futures last week as the December contract ended 23 cents lower. Wednesday’s stocks report was only slightly bearish as they raised the yield .4 bushels. However, they increased domestic demand a bit which offset part of the increase. They did not lower the expected corn exports which most would agree they need to do. The energies and stock markets were strongly higher last Friday which supported corn, otherwise the week’s loss would have been worse. There is still a lot of unknown in the Black Sea corridor and that continues to be debated daily. Basis levels are still better than normal in most areas other than the river markets. If you need to move corn prior to end of the year keep an eye on this. Beans had a good trade last Friday with support from the outside markets and the rumor that China bought 6 cargos of US beans. We will see this week if the rumor becomes the truth. Brazil is about 70 percent done planting beans and if the weather is crop friendly, they may be on track to producing an additional 850 million bushels of beans. This will move the world demand south to them and may leave us trying to use our excess bushels domestically. Down the road as more new bean oil plants come online in the US, we will handle these bushels and more as the desire for green oil grows. In the meantime, we need to work to keep all the exports we can. Interior plants are offering some excellent basis levels right now as they are looking for beans to keep their plants operating at full capacity. It appears a lot of beans were locked up at harvest and they seem to be there until after the first of the year. Again, this may present an opportunity to part with some beans before the supply becomes more available.