General Market/News
This coming Monday talks will begin on the future of the Ukraine grain deal. The talks will be held in Geneva between Russia and the UN.
The first solid-encapsulated herbicide is on the way. Surtain, a BASF product is expected to be released in 2024 pending EPA approval. BASF says this new product will control 79 broadleaf weeds and grasses including palmer amaranth and ragweed.
Soybean harvest in Brazil continues to lag behind the average pace. Due to the slower than normal harvest, ships have been piling up off the coast of Brazil. Early this week there was around 490 million bushels of vessel space waiting offshore. One boat named Johnny Cash has been waiting for 6 weeks (talk about singing the blues). Meanwhile, the Safrinha corn crop plantings are now at 64% according to CONAB.
Commodities this week and WASDE recap
This past Wednesday the USDA release the March edition of the WASDE report. Overall, there wasn’t much changed in the US specific data. Corn exports were moved lower by 75 million bushels which bumped the US carry out to 1.342 billion bushels. The demand side of the balance sheet for soybeans was increased by 15 million bushels which pushed the US Carryout down to 210 million bushels for 22/23 crop year. US wheat was left unchanged from the Feb report at 568 million bushel carryout.
The biggest changes were found in the Argentina numbers. The soybean production was slashed from 41 million metric tonnes in the Feb report to 33mmt. Likewise, corn production was also cut from 47mmt in Feb to 40mmt in this week’s report. It is also worth noting that the Argentine Secretary of Ag said this week that corn cargoes that were lined up for shipment between March and July may be delayed as much as 360 days due to the short crop.
Lastly, Brazilian production estimates were left unchanged from the February report.
All prices were gathered the afternoon of Friday, March 10, 2023, and compared to open price on Monday morning.
- Oil, down $3.40 a barrel to $76.56.
- May 2023 Corn, down 28 cents to $6.17.
- Dec 2023 Corn, down 13 cents $5.57.
- May 2023 Beans, down 21 cents to $15.07.
- Nov 2023 Soybeans, down 17 cents to $13.57.
- July 2023 Wheat, down 28 cents to $6.90.
- May 2023 Cotton, down 6 cents to 78.18.
- Dec 2023 Cotton, down 4 cents to 80.40.
Local Basis Talk
Nearby corn basis is weakening with rail movement running very efficiently.
Carolina Ag Advisors 