Weekend Hours, Due to the rain and wet conditions, our locations will be CLOSED this weekend

October 15, 2021 

Corn posted strong gains to finish the trading week. CZ settled 9 cents higher, and CH rose 8 ½ cents. This week, CZ was 4 ¾ cents lower; CH dropped 5 ¼ cents. Commodity funds were buyers of an estimated 7000 corn contracts today. End users were buyers, taking advantage of the recent price drop to add to coverage. Spillover support from higher energy markets helped to boost corn futures higher with November crude oil futures rising to a new life of contract high today. Excellent ethanol margins are encouraging processors to maximize production. The current USDA projection for corn use in ethanol production is 5.2 billion bu. but may need to be increased if the highly profitable ethanol margins persist. The weekly export sales report was neutral as sales of 41 million bu. of corn were as expected. It does look like sales in the coming weeks will increase as southern hemisphere inventories are nearly depleted and Ukraine is thought to have already sold out their port capacity into early next year. Progress in harvesting corn has slowed this week due to widespread Midwest rains, but next week looks drier. Monday’s Crop Conditions Report is expected to estimate the U.S. corn harvest near 55% complete.

Soybeans were stronger on Friday with contracts posting double digit gains. SX rallied 11 ½ cents; SF tacked on 10 ¾ cents. This week, SX was 25 ¼ cents lower; SF fell 28 cents. Commodity funds were buyers of soybeans at week’s end with purchases estimated at 6000 contracts. Export news drove the market higher today as the USDA flashed soybean sales this morning and rumors of additional export business circulated. FAS this morning announced sales of 132,000 MTs of 2021/22 soybeans to China and another 722,750 MTs to unknown destinations. There was unconfirmed talk in the trade that as many as 15 cargoes of Gulf beans were purchased by China overnight along with 2 cargoes to be shipped from the PNW. The weekly export sales report included soybean sales of 42 million bu. which was not a surprise. NOPA’s September soybean crush figure was a surprise as last month’s crush was reported at 153.8 million bu., below the trade guess of 155 million bu. and last September’s crush of 161.5 million bu. Monday’s conditions report is expected to estimate that 65% of U.S. soybeans have been harvested. Weather next week looks favorable for soybean harvesting.