Elevator hours this week will depend on both weather and if the combines are rolling.  Please call ahead if you are planning on coming after 5 pm.  

Friday was mixed day for our markets.  Harvest corn closed down 1, spot soybeans closed up 2 1/2, spot winter wheat closed unchanged and spot spring wheat closed down 7 3/4.  In the overnight trade all of our markets are on the negative side.  Oil closed down $0.94 on Friday at $58.06 per barrel.  It is weaker in trading again this morning with it now valued at $57.88 per barrel.  Our dollar traded between a low of $0.708 US and a high of $0.710 US on Friday with it closing out right in the middle at $0.709 US.  In the overnight trading it has stayed within the same range.  This morning it is currently valued at $0.709 US.

Last week was a mixed week for our markets with the CBOT mostly down just a bit.  The strength in corn prices came from strong increases in local basis.  Spot corn prices closed up $12 per tonne with next year’s harvest closed down $2 per tonne.  Spot soybeans closed up $1 per tonne with next year’s harvest closed unchanged.  The spring wheat market was even for this year and down $2 per tonne for next year’s harvest.  The winter wheat market was up $1 per tonne on the spot market but down $1 per tonne for next year’s harvest.

It was interesting that last week that December corn on the CBOT closed down only $0.05 per bushel when March corn on the CBOT closed down about $0.30 per bushel.  It is now below both the 20 and 50 day moving averages with it equal to the 100 day moving average.  It is possible that the marketplace is finally responding to the record large crop in the US this fall.  Remember it is record large in both yield per acre and total production.  The higher yield has resulted in more piles of corn this year that have to get moved to the market.  December on the CBOT will soon be removed as the nearby month with March taking over.  We will be watching closely to see if negative pressures on prices remain.

Although soybean prices closed just positive on the nearby month for the week we should note that they were about $0.50 per bushel off their high for the week.  With some Chinese purchases made earlier this week the market had rallied most likely with expectations that these purchases would continue.  As they slowed down over the week prices on the CBOT pulled back.  It was nice to see on Friday how prices started negative and were able to close on the positive side even without any Chinese purchases.  On the negative side for increased sales to China is talk that soybean stock levels in China is at record levels and that they are just running out of places to put soybeans.

This morning we read a report that soybean plantings in Brazil has reached 80% completion.  This is below last year’s 83% at this time but is ahead of their 5 year average of 75% planted.  With a strong start to their crop year early projections of another record production out of Brazil again this year will continue to gain strength.

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.