Wednesday, April 9, 2025, 7:45 a.m.

Tuesday was another mixed day for our markets.  Harvest corn closed down 1/4, harvest soybeans closed down 3 1/4, harvest winter wheat closed up 3 1/2 and harvest spring wheat closed up 5 3/4.  In the overnight trade corn, soybeans and winter wheat are mixed with spring wheat still positive.  Oil closed down $1.12 yesterday at $59.58 per barrel.  It is weaker in trading again this morning with it now valued at $55.92 per barrel.  Our dollar had a high yesterday morning before noon of $0.707 US and a low in the afternoon of $0.701 US.  It has bounced back up some since then with it currently valued this morning at $0.704 US.

Nearby corn and soybeans closed higher yesterday with this year’s harvest closed negative for both.  Is the marketplace telling us it is not as concerned as to the effects of the tariffs for the old crop as compared to the new crop?  Or is demand just that strong for old crop that prices rallied?  Whatever the reason it was nice to see old crop prices stay on the positive side.

For the corn market a sale of 9.5 million bushels of old crop corn to Spain helped to support those prices.  Corn export sales continue to be ahead of USDA projections for the current marketing year and it is looking like they will keep going even with the current tariffs.

The big news on the tariff front is that the US and China keep ramping up tariff amounts back and forth.  The US is implementing a further 50% increase on Chinese imports which will now set the tariff at 104% of the value of the imported goods.  How far the trade war can go between these two economic super powers is yet to be seen.

Managed money in the wheat market is currently holding a record short position (looking for prices to go down).  With a fairly tight global wheat balance sheet and concerns over production levels around the world it seems like a strange time to be betting on prices going lower.  However, with all the economic turmoil that exists around the world nobody really knows where prices will end up at.

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.