This is the SFN Market Report with Brooks Schaffer of Palmetto Grain. Reach him at brooks@palmettograin.com or 843-540-4540.
Corn and soybean markets continue to trade lower. Harvest selling pressure and no catalyst to spark fund buying are the main culprits. It was a very open week for harvest progress last week, and that was reflected in the USDA progress report released Monday afternoon. Corn harvest advanced 10 percentage points to 44% complete, compared to 33% last week. That is a big jump from last week, but still well behind the five-year average of 52% for this week. Iowa was a big laggard at only 26% complete, compared to 50% on average. Soybean harvest advanced an even bigger 18 percentage points to 64% complete this week, compared to 46% last week. That has almost caught the average, which is 65% complete. But Iowa is still well behind that average at only 57% complete, compared to 74% on average. Corn yields continue to be up and down, while soybean yield reports remain very strong. China continues to buy U.S. beans, with near-daily new flash sales showing up. South American planting continues to advance rapidly, with no major weather threat down there despite the super El Niño.
We have to get harvest behind us and harvest selling pressure out of the market, or something in the outside markets has to flip the funds to buyers. We still have tremendous demand for all grains. China continues to buy U.S. beans, and Russia and Ukraine continue to escalate, so a deal there looks unlikely anytime soon. Putin proposed a three-way summit with him, Trump and the Chinese president to bring the war to an end, but it seems like a long shot without Ukrainian buy-in. There is a lot going on in the world, but the funds need something new to trade on. Basis in the Southeast has gotten much stronger on corn now that the bulk of our harvest is behind us.