If there’s one thing that’s predictable in the current grain markets, it’s unpredictability.
While farmers are not complaining about a trend reversal in the corn market to the upside, the uncertainty of what’s at play in the market does create some stress. To unpack what’s happened and what to watch for in the coming days and weeks, Shaun Haney caught up with Jim McCormick, co-founder of AgMarket.net, at the Top Producer summit.
McCormick explains how inflationary tariff decisions by the U.S. president, fund buying, and export sales all have driven the price of corn higher, and lifted related commodities as well. But that got us to now — what happens next?
It’s possible that export sales will end up the same by the end of the year, and that the run up in demand was more to do with impending tariffs than real new demand, he says. There is also longer-term downward pressure to markets due to economic hardship in China. Plus, corn acres are likely ticking higher, McCormick says, further building supply.
He suggests farmers watch the funds and watch what action they take to best predict where things may be headed, and to watch how the U.S. president refers to tariffs. If the tariff goal becomes monetary policy and not a negotiating tactic, those tariffs become much stickier and long-term.
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