February 23, 2009

With the dawning of a new week has come higher prices in the row crops primarily corn and beans,while leaving wheat to fight its own battles. Corn closed up 1 1/2 to 2 cents on the day and soybeans closed up 10 to 13 cents while wheat closed down 8 to 9 cents.Less than expected rainfall in the southern hemiphere and a higher close in Asian markets overnight helped revive the markets today.The weekly inspection report was right at traders guesses. Without a boost from ethanol use or biodiesel it is going to be hard for us to get corn and bean inventories down to a level that will encourage additional buying by the funds or the speculators. Thus the level for reduced corn inventories need to see more export demand more feed demand and more ethanol usuage. There will be time for weather markets later this year but the real question is where will all this demand come from

Chuck Peterson