Grain prices this week ended mixed as speculative players took profits off the table amidst growing weather and geopolitical risk. Delays in U.S. corn plantings and concerns about Chinese trade dominated the headlines. It’s still early, but just 3% of the U.S. corn crop was planted as of Sunday. Conditions this week weren’t great in… Read more »
Category: Grain Markets
Action needed to reopen Italy to Canadian durum: Cereals Canada
With the ink still drying on a trade agreement that was supposed to reduce barriers to trade, a protectionist measure has shut out one of Canada’s largest single product exports to Europe. Durum wheat shipments from Canada to Italy have been halted since October, shortly after the Italian government announced it was moving ahead with… Read more »
Place your bets — This week in the grain markets
Grain markets were volatile this week with prices flip-flopping on what was more concerning — geopolitical risk or weather. Much less concerning were most of the largely market-anticipated USDA numbers. Some notable data-points from this week’s WASDE (World Agricultural Supply and Demands Estimates): Russia’s wheat exports raised by 1 MMT to 38.5 million (a record);… Read more »
Playing chicken with a trade war — This week in the grain markets
Grain markets this week were extremely volatile as they digested all of the information thrown at them, particularly that out of Washington and Beijing. China proposed a 25% import tax on soybeans, which took the market by a huge surprise (and left many scratching their heads at how China plans to meet their feedstuff demand)…. Read more »
Finding bullish hope in acres — This week in the grain markets
Grain markets finished the end of March and the calendar quarter on a bit of a high as the USDA provided a slightly bullish catalyst on the last day of trading. This could provide some active, but volatile, trading in the first week of April. Until Thursday, soybean prices and corn prices headed lower as… Read more »
Higher spring wheat and lower soybean acres headline USDA planting intentions report
Add over a million acres of spring wheat, and subtract more than two million acres of soybeans… There were a few surprises in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Prospective Plantings report published on Thursday. The department pegged soybean acres at 89.0 million acres — more than two million below the average trade estimate of 91.1 million,… Read more »
A dose of reality — This week in the grain markets
Grain markets this week took a bit of a geopolitical hit with a subdued approach to more talk of trade war. Specifically, this week, U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans to place tariffs on about $50 billion worth of Chinese imports. But China isn’t ready to be pushed around. On Friday, the country announced a… Read more »
Looking for direction — this week in the grain markets
Grain markets had another volatile week as we dealt with conflicting bullish and bearish variables including, but not limited to: exports, acreage forecasts, weather forecasts, and currency swings. Sounds like a normal week, right? First, the Canadian dollar lost nearly 2% this week to close under 76.5 cents USD. This is the first time it… Read more »
Swimming with WASDE: This week in the grain market
This past week’s grain markets were highlighted by the USDA’s March installment of the monthly WASDE report. Going into the report, the market was looking for some big changes to South American production possibilities, but it wasn’t necessarily expecting the American balance sheet to provide the surprises. The USDA dropped its estimate of the Argentine… Read more »
Marching in like a bull — A recap on the grain markets
February 2018 will go down in history as the month that Argentina’s soybean crop hit a new crisis level. Ongoing drought across the region coupled with delays in Brazil’s harvest has unleashed speculations across the soybean complex. For the month, the May contract in Chicago closed at 5.5%, continuing the frantic surge caused by short-term… Read more »
Waiting for sparks (and rain) — This week in the grain markets
Grain markets worked with a four-day work week to end sideways or up from the week previous. Limited rains in Argentina and the U.S. Southern Plains helped add a few sparks. For the May 2018 corn contract, prices moved just half a cent lower to end at 3.745 USD / bushel on the Chicago Board… Read more »
Grain backlog growing as railways fall behind
Canada’s two major railways supplied less than half of the hopper cars ordered by grain shippers last week, according to data from the Ag Transport Coalition. The farm group and grain shipper coalition’s weekly report says Canadian National Railway (CN) only supplied 34 percent of cars that were ordered in week 28 of the crop… Read more »
What’s real, what’s rumoured — This week in the grain markets
Grain markets were mostly higher this week as weather premiums continues to whip up some bullish activity. Wheat prices led the grain complex lower Friday as traders prepared for the upcoming holiday weekend. The day had started with small gains due to news of harvest delays down in the Brazilian fields. But profit-taking appeared to… Read more »
From Super Bowl to weather forecasts — This week in the grain markets
Grain prices this week were relatively quiet as the complex digested another World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report from the USDA that didn’t give much fodder to go off. According to the report, total South American soybean production is basically staying the same; U.S. corn exports were raised; and American soybean stocks ballooned… Read more »
High supply, mixed export numbers: an analysis of the latest WASDE report
Today’s updated World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report was by no means a market mover. But, it does pose some questions for the market to digest. Starting with the U.S. Supply and Demand, it was, for the most part, fully influenced by adjustments in export demand. 2017/18 U.S. corn ending stocks estimates were… Read more »