Thursday, January 23, 2025, 7:20 a.m.

Yesterday was a mostly negative day for our markets.  Spot corn closed down 5 3/4, spot soybeans closed down 11 1/4, harvest winter wheat closed down 3 and harvest spring wheat closed up 3/4.  In the overnight trade all of our markets are on the negative side.  Oil closed down $0.39 yesterday at $75.44 per barrel.  It is stronger in trading this morning with it now trading at $75.73 per barrel.  Our dollar started out yesterday morning at $0.698 US and then trended lower.  This morning it is currently valued at $0.694 US.

We had somewhat of a volatile day yesterday for our markets.  They all traded on the positive side before pulling back.  Corn did close 2 cents above the low for the day but it was also 8 cents off the trading day high.  Soybeans at one time were up 6 cents before closing negative.  They traded in a 22 cent range for the day.  The wheat market traded within a 14 cent range which included being up about 8 cents at one time.

Managed money (speculative funds) taking some profits was the talk of the day.  They have been increasing their long positions (looking for prices to go up) in both the corn and soybean markets recently.  They currently hold their largest long position in the corn market since June of 2022 with it estimated at about 350,000 contracts.

The funds are betting that the current weather in Argentina and parts of Southern Brazil will have enough of a detrimental effect on crop production to increase prices in the future.  This is in spite of some recent rains in those growing regions and an updated forecast yesterday looking for rain events this week.  We should also note that that many private forecasters continue to increase their production estimates for soybeans out of Brazil.  Any production decreases being made for Argentina at this time are minor in comparison.

China has announced that they have stopped current soybean shipments from five companies in Brazil due to phytosanitary concerns.  It is rumoured that this is due to chemical detections in the soybeans.  The marketplace will be monitoring this situation to see if it is a one-off or if future exports from Brazil are in jeopardy.

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.