Your Pro Farmer newsletter (December 9, 2023) is now available

USDA’s December crop reports typically don’t offer many market-moving surprises and this year was no different, though markets had a negative reaction. While USDA doesn’t update its corn and soybean crop estimates in December, Conab cut its forecasts for both of those crops in Brazil amid adverse weather through early December. Private crop forecasters also lowered their Brazilian production estimates and more reductions would be likely if the weather doesn’t shift. But there has been some improvement with rains across central areas of Brazil in recent weeks and the second half of December looks like it could offer better rainfall chances. On the demand front, China accelerated its purchases of U.S. wheat, with three daily sales of U.S. SRW wheat announced by USDA totaling more than 1 MMT, basically doubling what Chinese buyers on the books through Nov. 30. Soybean demand is being driven by crush, which set an all-time record in October and looks to remain strong. China’s November trade data came in better than expected, but the country faces a hidden debt problem that may soon come to a head. We cover all of these items and much more in this week’s newsletter, which you can download here.