Agriculture News
Soybean basis slipped only a penny as the cash price surged over $1 during the past week.
Soybeans posted new highs overnight, with the March contract topping $15.60 amid a continued price surge tied to South American crop losses and speculative buying. Corn and wheat modestly followed higher.
Wheat futures failed to find followthrough selling overnight after a bearish outside day down on Monday, which triggered light corrective buying. Corn also mildly rebounded overnight, while soybeans paused.
USDA estimates there were 91.9 million head of cattle in the U.S. as of Jan. 1, down 1.9 million head (2.0%) from year-ago and 762,000 head less than the average pre-report estimate implied.
![“Asian exporters are paying premium shipping rates, sometimes 10 times what the rate is for going from the [United] States back to Asia, and this shipping rate disparity incentivizes sending back those empty containers,” Borror said.](https://assets.farmjournal.com/dims4/default/92c7bcd/2147483647/strip/true/crop/840x561+0+19/resize/250x167!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffj-corp-pub.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fs3fs-public%2F2021-02%2FExport-ship-840.jpg)
Short-, intermediate and long-term trends are up for corn and soybeans.
Soybean futures posted another round of contract highs overnight, with the front-month contract reaching the highest level since June 2021 on the continuation chart. Corn and wheat followed soybeans higher.
USDA’s Cattle Inventory Report at 2 p.m. CT is expected to show the U.S. cattle herd as of Jan. 1 contracted 1.2% from year-ago.
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Old-crop soybean futures led price gains across the grain and soy complex and posted new contract highs overnight.
Dry/drought conditions in HRW get worse
Wheat, corn export sales above market expectations
Soybean futures pulled back early in overnight trade but have rebounded to post new contract highs this morning. Overnight price action was light and choppy in corn and wheat.
Corn basis firmed a penny over the past week as futures rose.
The wheat market faced profit-taking and corrective selling overnight following strong gains the first two days this week. Corn was pulled slightly lower by wheat, while soybeans favored the upside in two-sided trade.
Wheat futures found followthrough buying overnight amid heightened tensions with Russia and deteriorating U.S. winter wheat conditions, while the corn and soybean markets favored the downside in light, two-sided trade.
Individual state crop conditions ratings released on Monday showed further deterioration of the HRW wheat crop during January due to drought in the Plains.
It’s typical for frozen beef stocks to rise during December, though the increase was slightly greater than normal. It’s also normal for pork stocks to decline in December, though the drop was less than average.
Weekly corn, soybean and wheat inspections were all within the range of pre-report estimates.