North Gower Grains

Thursday was a negative day for our markets.  Spot corn closed down 3, spot soybeans closed down 1 1/2, harvest winter wheat closed down 16 1/4 and harvest spring wheat closed down 9.  In the overnight trade all or our markets have returned to the positive side.  Oil closed down $1.81 yesterday at $105.07 per barrel.  It is weaker again this morning with it now trading at $104.34 per barrel.  Our dollar had a low of $0.731 US yesterday morning and has trended higher since then.  This morning it has jumped up to $0.737 US.  This is the strongest value our dollar has seen since early February.

Increased prospects of rain over much of the HRW wheat growing regions in the US helped to pull prices lower.  After the recent run up in prices in this market US wheat has become extremely overpriced in the world market.  So much so that there is now talk about wheat being imported into the US this year.  This could of course include HRS wheat from Canada.

Although soybeans pulled back yesterday soybean oil traded higher for the 4^th straight day making another nearby contract high.  This occurred even with crude oil prices pulling back yesterday.  Overall vegetable oil demand for the biodiesel market seems to be the bull in this market that keeps pushing prices higher.

Corn prices also pulled back yesterday with some favourable weather forecast over much of the US Corn Belt.  Good weather should keep the planters moving and remember they are already at a faster than normal planting pace so far this year.

Ethanol production declined last week by 3% from the previous week as spring maintenance work continued for many ethanol plants.  Daily production came in at 1.009 million barrels per day.  Blender demand slipped by 0.5% week over week with exports up from 90 thousand barrels per day the previous week up to 170 thousand barrels per day last week.  Remember this is an extremely important factor for corn prices as ethanol utilizes about 35% of the US corn crop most years.

Friday’s thought: There are two things you should never waste your time on: things that do not matter and people who think that you do not matter!