Friday March 05, 2010

Did you know: It was on this day in 1933 during the Great Depression that President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares a 'bank holiday'. This act closed all U.S. banks and froze all financial transactions.

Happy Friday! Corn took another hit after gains this morning and soybeans yo yoed all day only to finish unchanged. Corn finished the day down 7 cents at $3.75. Soybeans are unchanged at $9.42. The strong El Nino that we have been seeing hit it's peak in December. It's now weakening. Precipitation across the central U.S. is typically drier than usual during El Nino springs. China's Premier announced that it wanted to hit 8% GDP which caused an overnight rally in energies and metals. That spilled over into grains, but those gains could not be sustained most of the day. China also announced that they plan to plant more corn acres than beans acres which was nothing less than supportive of Uncle Sam's soybeans.

The Western Corn Belt region basis has remained steady while some bids have softened 2-4 cents at plants due to increased movement. Mostly because farmers are trying to move as much as possible before road postings are put into place. CIF corn is bidding +.35 cents (1 cent weaker than yesterday). CBOT deliveries totaled 1,760 contracts on March corn. Corn was down on a firm US dollar and lower crude prices. A lot of eyes are focused on the March 31 USDA acreage estimates. Last year U.S. total crop acreage declined to nearly 6 million acres.

Private estimates are increasing corn and soybean production for South America.

CIF soybeans are bidding 2 cents better than yesterday at +.60 cents. With corn down 7 cents today, it looks like corn was unable to capitalize on the active fund selling today. CBOT deliveries totaled 641 March soybeans. Our Chinese friends , world's largest soybean importer, will continue to import large soy volumes while looking at their own corn production to meet animal protein demands. Record amount of South American stocks likely to set the stage for lower meal and soy values long term. Though these are the rumors we've been hearing, it will be interesting to see what happens.

Look for a heat wave this weekend. Today we got into the 40's. On Saturday there is a slight possibility of hitting 50 degrees! This should definitely help melt a lot of this snow that still covers much of the Midwest. Warm temperatures on Saturday are going to be followed up my rain on Sunday. Looks like it may get a sloppy out there. Enjoy the weekend!

Don't feed the bears,
Nathaniel Dubravec