North Gower Grains

Friday, May 16, 2025, 8:15 a.m.

Our office will be closed on Monday for the Victoria Day Holiday.  The markets remain open and as such you can call me anytime at 613-880-2707 to make a contract. 

Thursday was another mixed day for our markets.  Spot corn closed up 3 with harvest corn down 1 3/4.  Harvest soybeans corn closed down 26, harvest winter wheat closed up 8 and harvest spring wheat closed up 2 1/4.  In the overnight trade corn is mixed, soybeans and winter wheat are negative with spring wheat on the positive side.  Oil closed down $1.53 yesterday at $61.62 per barrel.  It is flat in trading this morning with it now valued at $61.65 per barrel.  Our dollar has traded between a low of $0.714 US and a high of $0.718 US over the last 24 hours.  This morning it is currently valued at $0.716 US.

After writing yesterday how the soybean oil market was providing support to the soybean sector of course things had to change.  Soybean oil went down the limit yesterday and is down again this morning.  Prices pulled back with rumours that the new biodiesel mandate in the US would be reduced by roughly 20% from current numbers.  Of course the industry was looking for an increase in the numbers.  Where the final figures will fall is a political decision in the US and we all know that when politics get involved a positive outcome is not guaranteed.  To further cloud this issue there does not seem to be any set timeframe for when the decision will be made.

Soybean prices fell hard yesterday with the above information.  They have since received some support from both strong weekly export sales in the US and monthly crush data for April.  Exports were up 66% from the previous week but down 24% from the 4 week average.  Crush figures for April came in at 190.226 million bushels of soybeans which was a new record for April.  This was an increase of 12% from April of 2024 and was well above the average trade estimate of 184.6 million bushels crushed.

On the negative side for soybeans production estimates for this year where increased yesterday for both Brazil and Argentina by their respective trading agencies.  It was only a slight increase in Brazil however the increase in Argentina was 1.3 million tonnes.

We should note that the corn market was supported yesterday by continued strong weekly export numbers out of the US.  On the negative side CONAB raised Brazil’s safrinha corn production by 1.8 million tonnes up to 126.3 million tonnes.  We should note that the USDA is projecting this crop at 130 million tonnes.  As a general thought it seems that the USDA’s projections are usually a bit higher than CONAB’s.

Friday’s thought: The best feeling of happiness is when you are happy because you have made someone else happy!

If you would like to talk about the markets or price some of your crop for the future or in store, please reach out to us via phone or email to info@northgowergrains.com. Prices quoted herein are for product at our elevator.