Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Chicago wheat futures slid again on Thursday, dropping to their lowest in more than eight months amid a bumper U.S. harvest and well-timed European rains. Soybeans and corn edged higher, on technical trading and signs weather may not be so crop-friendly across the U.S. Corn Belt in coming days. The most-active […] Read more
U.S. grains: Wheat slips on bumper harvest, soy up on exports
Corn inches up on technical trading, weather questions
U.S. grains: Soybeans gain on China demand
Improved U.S. rating lifts expectations for bumper corn crop; wheat up on pre-report positioning
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Chicago soybean futures gained on Wednesday, supported by solid demand from the world’s biggest importer, China, while corn edged lower on strong crop conditions. Wheat inched higher after falling for three consecutive sessions, but advances remained capped by a progressing winter wheat harvest in the U.S. southern Plains. Traders positioned ahead […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Hogs weaken on expectations for abundant supplies
Cattle futures seen as rangebound
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. lean hog futures fell on Wednesday on expectations for abundant pork supplies as meat processors work their way through pigs that backed up on farms when slaughterhouses shut due to the coronavirus pandemic. Traders expect meat packers to start eating into the backlog of hogs within the next two weeks […] Read more
CBOT weekly outlook: Crop commodities rangebound
Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — Favourable growing conditions across most of the U.S. — and a good start to the growing season — have kept commodity prices on the Chicago Board of Trade locked in a sideways range. In the crop progress report released Tuesday from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. corn crop was approximately […] Read more
CBOT weekly outlook: Ag commodities steady
Slack demand for biofuel has dragged on corn
Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — Crop commodity values on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) have largely stabilized as COVID-19 restrictions are relaxed in several U.S. states. “We’ve been playing this virus for a few months now,” said Scott Capinegro of Barrington Commodities in Barrington, Ill. COVID-19-related lockdown measures decimated demand for ethanol, which put considerable pressure on […] Read more
U.S. grains: Soy rises on stronger Brazilian currency
Wheat pressured by rain relief across Europe, export lull
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. corn and soybean futures rose on Wednesday as plans to ease lockdown measures and a move by U.S. President Donald Trump to keep meat factories open tempered fears about demand destruction caused by the coronavirus epidemic. Wheat futures slid, hitting a one-month low as rains in Europe and the Black […] Read more
Burnett on Markets: Global grain stocks offer false sense of food security
In event of production shortfall, 60 per cent of available stocks would never be available to market
Reading Time: 2 minutes The economic parallels from the COVID-19 epidemic are quickly changing from comparisons to the recent financial crisis in 2008-09 to the Great Depression. My parents and grandparents lived through the Depression and it did have many impacts on their everyday lives. The main symbol of the Depression-era mentality was the two enormous chest freezers in […] Read more
CBOT weekly outlook: Poor ethanol demand weighing on corn
Reading Time: 1 minute MarketsFarm — Losses in crude oil and ethanol have weighed heavily on grain and oilseed markets, with Chicago Board of Trade corn falling to fresh contract lows Wednesday. General uncertainty over COVID-19 is expected to keep a bearish tone in the market. “The big thing has been the overall slowdown in ethanol production,” said Tom […] Read more
JBS sees steady trade flows but flags export woes
Reading Time: 2 minutes Sao Paulo | Reuters — Brazil’s JBS, the world’s largest meatpacker, has said the COVID-19 coronavirus epidemic could cause container shortages, port disruptions and other logistics issues, but said trade flows should stay strong thanks to Chinese demand. In a conference call to discuss earnings results on Thursday, JBS executives said its export operations had […] Read more
U.S. grains: Corn hits 18-month low
Soybean, wheat futures firm
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. corn futures plummeted 3.3 per cent to an 18-month low on Tuesday as traders said current prices were too high to generate demand from overseas buyers with the ongoing harvests in Brazil and Argentina providing cheaper offerings on the export market. Corn prices fell to their session lows just ahead […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
