North Gower Grains

Tuesday was a mostly negative day for our markets.  Spot corn closed down 1 3/4, spot soybeans closed down 3 1/2, harvest winter wheat closed up 2 3/4 and harvest spring wheat closed down 6.  In the overnight trade corn and soybeans are negative with the wheat sector on the positive side.  Oil closed down $0.23 yesterday at $104.15 per barrel.  It is weaker again this morning with it now trading at $102.13 per barrel.  Our dollar has traded between a low of $0.726 US and a high of $0.728 US over the last 24 hours.  This morning it is right in the middle of the range with it currently valued at $0.727 US.

After a nice strong day on Monday our markets slowed down yesterday.  Unfortunately, it looks like without enough specific details on the new trade deal between the US and China the marketplace is short on details to drive prices.  With corn prices rallying on Monday of course speculators in this market are thinking that China will be a purchaser of US corn.  With  plantings reporting a continued fast pace for the US corn crop this market will require some bullish trade news to keep prices driving higher.

For soybeans it was somewhat disappointing that the new deal does not include any increased old crop soybean purchases by China.  It was reported that they have committed to keep their 25 million tonne purchase level for the next 3 years.  We should note though that China has not publicly acknowledged this commitment, we only have word from the US side that this will occur.

The wheat market is getting support from the Winter Wheat crop in the US with its very low good to excellent rating reported this week.  Also, the crop this year in Australia is supposed to be reduced due to the high cost and lack of nitrogen fertilizer available for this year’s crop.  Last year Australia produced about 4% of the world’s wheat crop.  Overall world production this year is projected to decrease by about 3% from last year.  However, we should note that that we are coming off a record world wheat production year.

President Trump is reporting that negotiations are ongoing with Iran to end the current war.  Of course, he is threatening them again with massive bombings if the war continues.  Hopefully soon this war will end and we can take the wildcard of how it is affecting our prices away.

With so much volatility in our markets we need to remember about setting some Target Orders.  They are a great way to take advantage of short-term price increases.  Give us a call anytime to discuss how target orders can work with your marketing decisions.