Wednesday, January 22, 2025, 7:20 a.m.

Yesterday was a positive day for our markets.  Spot corn closed up 5 3/4, spot soybeans closed up 33 3/4, harvest winter wheat closed up 21 1/4 and harvest spring wheat closed up 21 3/4.  In the overnight trade corn and soybeans are now negative with the wheat market mixed.  Oil closed down $1.56 yesterday at $75.83 per barrel.  It is stronger in trading this morning with it now trading at $76.04 per barrel.  Our dollar started out yesterday morning at $0.692 US and has traded mostly up since maxing out at $0.699 US in the overnight trade.  It has eased back a bit this morning with it currently valued at $0.697 US.

Trump Turmoil yesterday was the talk of the markets.  With no tariffs being set immediately it seems that the marketplace took that as a positive and prices rallied.  The lack of tariffs also led to the US dollar weakening versus most other major currencies.  We should note that President Trump did talk about putting tariffs on products from both China and the European Union.  Whether these tariffs will come or not only time will tell.

As the market watches everything that President Trump does and says this creates volatility in prices.  Volatility can create opportunity and as such this would be a great time to get some target orders set for both any old crop not yet priced and harvest 2025 crop.  When setting target prices there are really two different types of targets to set.

• Reality Targets that are somewhat close to current price levels. This is a target that could reasonably be met if the market is to have some small rallies.
• Wishful Targets that currently do not really seem reasonable however if market factors do change they could be hit. We have seen this type of target work before as we know that the marketplace is always changing.  Market uncertainty and price volatility is especially true nowadays with the current geopolitical activities around the world.

When setting target prices we feel it is important to balance out how much crop you put in either of the two different target order categories.  Give us a call anytime to discuss how target orders can work for your farm operation. 

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.