Mark's Market Talk

Outside markets turned sour late last week and pulled the grain markets down with it. The value of the dollar versus other world currency shot higher as the entire world deals with a rash of economic problems, and believe it or not, they think things are better here in the US. Crude oil ended the week below 80.00 as countries like China curb their energy appetite. This in turn works against the biofuel industry which lowers the demand for corn and beans. December corn finished even for the week. We traded higher earlier in the week and then Friday we gave it back. Meanwhile November beans were 23 cents lower at the end of last week. There was some blame given to harvest pressure as some areas are harvesting beans and the forecast for the coming week shows good harvest weather. China bought a few beans early last week, but we are at the time of year they normally are buying a lot of beans from us. The slow pace can be blamed on their Covid shutdowns, but world politics are probably a bigger reason. We should see some actual bean yield data this week that will either tell us the USDA has it right, or maybe the hot and dry summer hurt the bean yields more than expected. The corn yields we have seen to date show a wide range of yields and moistures. Several producers in our area have commented that the corn on their better ground has been better than expected. The same guys also tell us how bad the yields fall off once the combine gets away from the best areas of the field. Yield monitors show this difference to the row, but several have commented you don’t need a monitor to see the difference in many areas. Large variations in moisture content are a concern as it will take a lot of management for those storing on their corn on farm. Most farmers do a good job of managing their grain bins. However, this year it will take a huge amount of time to properly manage the corn going into farm storage. That 10 to 20 percent of the field that has a higher moisture will cause you a headache you don’t want. It may cause a bin to go out of condition and it could happen real fast. So, the advice of the day is to monitor your storage bins very close this year and avoid having to deal with spoiling grain.