Note: Corn Products in Chicago will close at midnight Friday, February 26, 2010 and will re-open 5AM Monday, March 1, 2010.

Elburn Coop in Morris will be open for corn and soybeans on Monday, March 1, 2010
Elburn Coop in Ottawa will be open for corn on Monday, March 1, 2010.

Elburn Coop in Ottawa finished up our 2nd Non-GMO corn barge today and moved on to regular corn and will continue receiving corn next week.

In today’s trading, grain futures were higher across the board. End of month fund buying contributed to raising futures today. Outside markets were also supportive as crude oil, gold, and stocks all finished in positive territory. Mar corn finished up 5 ¾ today and up 18 for the week. Mar soybeans closed up 9 ½ today and up 6 for the week. Jul Chicago wheat futures finished 15 higher for the day and up 14 ½ for the week.

National average on highway diesel fuel prices rose 7.6 cents in this weeks report reversing 5 weeks of declines. Higher crude oil of late has supported the increase though distillate stocks remain historically high.

Have a great weekend!
Mike Etienne

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Good afternoon faithful bloggers! It seemed to be relatively quite today other than the market performing well. Our Ottawa facility completed one of our two non-GMO barges and our Morris facility is still pumping out barges. Prices performed constructively today. The market performed positively with corn up 7 cents at $3.75. Soybeans finished +3 cents at $9.55 and wheat hit $5.00 after a +8 cents day. Soybeans had a late day rally after being down early.

CU0 hit $4.03 on the day and CZ0 reached $4.09. Grain seemed to respond well to weakening US dollar. The river corn basis is -4 cents under the CH0 and soybeans are even.New Orleans is bidding corn at+50 cents over the March and beans at +65 cents. The ethanol mandate increase from 2010 to 2011 is up 200mbu. Compare that to an average increase of 679mbu/year over the past 4 years. Soybean exports still holding up at 35mln last week.

Go Illini,
Nathaniel Dubravec

Tuesday February 23rd, 2010

Commodity markets had an up and down day today. Early strength in cash soybeans led the way today. Corn finished down 4 cents after being up a modest 1.5 early on. Corn basis remains firm and near normal values, which is pretty good considering the poor quality issues and large carryout for this year.

Soybeans really were the story today as they raced up 16 cents today and took out levels on the futures market not seen since January 19th. Soybean futures rallied enough to spur more cash movement and knocked futures down to finish 9 cents lower. Brazil has been in the news lately for both good yields but also harvest delays do to excessive rain and more rain forecast into the weekend. Argentina is looking for a much needed break from rain and it appears they will be dry through the weekend.

Please remember to regularly check bins on your farm and if any hint of problems arise, please don't hesitate to call for prices for on-farm pick-up.

Scott Meyer