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

Thursday February 18th, 2010

Good evening blog readers. Thursday is here and that means it is time for the much anticipated Energy Report to begin. I bring news of energy gains. Crude oil settled higher at close today, leaning closer to the $80 mark at $79.06. The large bounce in today's market was driven by what appeared to be technical buying. This week has provided a large jump in the diesel market, with prices up almost .15 cents on the cash market, expect the pumps to jump. The majority of the gains were futures driven, but basis has seen a .06 cent jump over the week in the Chicago market . The DOE report was interpreted as bullish, even with builds in crude oil of 3.085 million bpd and builds in gas of 1.6 million bpd. But it was draws in diesel of 2.9 million bpd which seemed to be enough to prop the market up for the day. Just in itself the report is kind of neutral, but in context of early week expectation everything but crude is an improvement in demand numbers. The numbers are explained under import reports showing larger than expected crude imports and much lower than anticipated heating oil imports. Demand is still down, with diesel leading the way at 7.9% weaker than this time last year, and gas lagging at about 1.3%. Never less products saw gains every day this week including today's .06 cents on gas, .045 cents on diesel, and $1.73 on crude. Most gains are being attributed to the weak early day dollar, leading buyers back into energy. Looking forward it doesn't seem like a break in gains is in our future, the market really seems focused on getting crude to the $80 mark, if it holds look to spend more on diesel this spring. But... a big but is if the bulls are unable to push it above $80 look for $2.00 plus retracement to provide a temporary break on diesel and gas gains.
Good evening all.
thanks for reading
Zach Winter

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Good afternoon bloggers! Corn and soybeans saw pressure today after yesterday's gains. Both commodities were on the defensive for most of the day. Corn fell 7 cents and beans declined 14 cents. Corn finished at $3.60 and soybeans finished at $9.51. It appears that profit taking and the strengthening US dollar kept the commodity market under pressure. Natural gas and crude oil are up on the day. Ethanol margins dropped 7 cents per gallon since last week. On a positive note, corn and soybean basis remains strong on the river. River values for beans peaked last week at +14 CH0 and has backed off since then. Barge freight is remaining steady as well as CIF basis. CIF corn has firmed 2% from last week. US corn export demand is weaker than recent expectations. Demand is weakening due to increased South America competition. Reports are saying that Argentina's crop is 19+mmt. Also there is a possibility of more shipments coming out of Brazil.

Currently, old crop soybean demand remains very strong. With South America's crop looking good, look for US exports to decline in April. US soybean export shipments show a total of 41 mbu has been shipped this week. The biggest receiver, China, is importing 18.6mbu.

The Morris River Terminal has been busy taking grain and loading barges. There is talk that the Marseilles Lock is currently being repaired due to a barge hitting the lock. So far it has not hindered our ability to receive barges. The weather for much of northern Illinois is looking partly cloudy for the next week. There is a chance of snow this Saturday. It's appears weather will remain fairly quiet in the Midwest. South America weather is still looking favorable for Argentina and Brazil.

Regards,
Nathaniel Dubravec

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