After starting the week off strong, corn ran into some selling pressure led by wheat. July corn closed today at 7.78 ¾ for a loss of 16 ¾ cent for the week. New crop corn closed at 7.32 for a .28 cent loss on the week. Export sales were slow this week for corn with no flash sales announced. Domestic demand remains very strong. Ethanol production was flat, but ethanol supplies decreased by 350,000 barrels. As we get into summer, more traveling could continue to lower ethanol supply. Local basis continues to improve with many end users pushing bids to positive numbers. Exports are just 180 million bushels behind USDA estimates at 2.500 billion bushels for the 21/22 crop year. New crop corn sales totaled 23.2 million bushels, putting total 2022/2023 commitments at 219.7 million bushels.
Soybeans post a weekly gain for the first time in 3 weeks. July contract ending the week at 17.05 ¼ for a gain of 48 cents. New crop soybeans didn’t fall as much as the nearby, ending the week at 15.21 ¾ for a gain of 11 cents for the week. One flash sale this week of 229,200 tons sold to unknown. Soybean demand remains strong with soybean meal finding new support at its 3-month lows. Indonesia announced it would ease its ban on palm oil, but the low supply of vegetable oils kept prices from falling. Exports expectations were increased in the last WASDE report, but we passed the new estimate by 35 million bushels this week. There are usually some soybeans that will get rolled from this year to next year delivery based on logistics, but with supplies so low we could see most of the soybeans get moved this year.
Chicago Wheat had a crazy week, starting off trading on Sunday with a gap up of 56 cents. India announced it would no longer export wheat in fear of their lower production expectations. Despite starting the week off with a limit up move Chicago Wheat lost 9 cents from last Fridays close to todays close at 11.68 ¾.
The Northwestern corn belt continues to get rain delaying planting. North Dakota corn planting was only 4% complete in this week’s progress report. Frost advisory in Northern Minnesota and North Dakota will continue to delay planting with next Wednesday being the crop insurance cut off date for the Northern part of Minnesota. Eastern corn belt made progress and now is expecting light showers over the next week. South America is still lacking rain and corn production in Brazil continues to fall, despite UDSA not lowering expectations on the last WASDE report.