Tuesday, October 29, 2024, 7:20 am – Monday was another negative day for our markets. Harvest corn closed down 4 1/2, harvest soybeans closed down 13 3/4, spot winter wheat closed down 10 1/4 and spot spring wheat closed down 10. In the overnight trade all of our markets are on the positive side. Oil closed down $4.40 yesterday at $67.38 per barrel. It is stronger in trading this morning with it now valued at $68.08 per barrel. Our dollar had a low of $0.719 US yesterday before noon and then trended higher going up to $0.721 US in the overnight trading. It has eased back just a bit this morning with it currently valued at $0.720 US.
Commodity prices pulled back yesterday and were heavily influenced by the huge drop in crude oil prices. They dropped as the bombings that Israel did in Iran over the weekend looked to specifically not target any of Iran’s oil producing and shipping infrastructure. This plus sluggish world demand on oil and ample supplies helped to pull oil prices lower. Lower prices for oil usually result in lower prices for ethanol and biodiesel and as such our markets fell back.
Farmers in Brazil are making progress in their plantings after having a slow start. Reports are that soybeans are now 36% planted. This is up from 18% last week and is slightly behind last year’s 40% complete. They planted 19.8 million acres of soybeans last week. They also report that the first season corn crop is 52% planted. Unfortunately this planting progress is a big negative for both corn and soybean prices going forward.
The USDA released their weekly Crop Progress Report yesterday. Their corn harvest increased by 16% week over week to sit at 81% complete. This remains ahead of both last year’s 68% complete and the 5 year average of 64% complete.
For soybeans they report that the harvest is now 89% complete. This is up from 81% last week and remains ahead of both last year’s 82% and the 5 year average of 78% complete.
Winter wheat plantings have reached 80% complete. This is up from 73% last week and is slightly behind both last year’s 82% and the 5 year average of 84% complete. They gave the winter wheat crop a good to excellent rating for the first time for the new crop. It came in at only 38% which is behind last year’s initial rating of 47% good to excellent.
This report should be considered slightly bearish for corn as the harvest progressed faster last week then many analysts were expecting. For soybeans the harvest progress has slowed down but the report is still slightly bearish as they remain ahead of previous years. For winter wheat the report should be considered slightly bullish due to the low good to excellent rating.
Geoffrey Guy | 613-880-2707
Delores Seiter | 613-880-7458 Bob Orr | 613-720-1271