Wednesday June 9, 2010

Fact of the day: In 2009, corn was valued at $42 billion and soybeans were valued at $32 billion.

Good evening bloggers! Today the board positively responded with a +1-2 cent bounce in corn and a mighty 1-12 cent rally in soybeans. Weaker dollar and stronger outside markets seemed to play a role in today's rally.

Producers have not been completely convinced by the board's weak performance as of late. Though the basis has been firm for both corn and soybeans, producers have been reluctant to let go of any corn or soybeans left in their possession. Hopefully today's momentum will carryover into tonight and tomorrow and bring prices up. The river basis has been firming due to the lack of farmer movement, but the ethanol processors' basis has been deteriorating as well. We are looking forward to a USDA report coming out tomorrow (Thursday). We are not expecting too much of a change in corn and soybean stocks, but you should keep an eye on the import/export numbers. Crop conditions have not changed except for a 3% increase in 'excellent condition'.

Nearby corn was up +1 cent and closed at $3.38. Nearby soybeans were up +12 cents and closed at $9.43. July futures rose 2 cents on the CBOT. This is the second straight gain. Prior to today, a rise in supplies caused for a 19% price decline. Earlier this week when the market rallied, the market fell the following day. Let's hope and pray that the CBOT will continue to rally throughout the night and into tomorrow. The weather continues to look great for Illinois and the rest of the corn belt. We had a scare that the Illinois River was going to rise quite a bit, but thankfully the rain missed us. We will be able to continue to load barges without worrying about the river rising for a while now. Have a good evening.

Stay classy Illinois,
Nathaniel Dubravec