Monday, March 18, 7:25 a.m. – Friday was a mixed day for our markets. Spot corn closed up 3, spot soybeans closed up 3, spot winter wheat closed down 3 3/4 and spot spring wheat closed down 8 3/4. In the overnight trade corn and the wheat sector are positive with soybeans now on the negative side. Oil closed down $0.22 on Friday at $81.04 per barrel. It is stronger in trading this morning with it now valued at $81.59 per barrel. Our dollar traded between a low of $0.738 US and a high of $0.740 US on Friday with it closing out at $0.739 US. With some choppy trading in the overnight market it is down just a bit and is currently valued at $0.738 US.
Last week was a mixed week for our markets. The corn market ended up just about even week over week. Soybeans were the star with spot soybeans up $5 per tonne and harvest 2024 soybeans up $7 per tonne. Spring wheat was down about $5 per tonne across the board and winter wheat was down $3 per tonne for old crop and $1 per tonne for new crop. With increased oil prices helping to support our dollar last week some downward pressure is being placed on our local basis levels.
As we talked about on Friday news for the world wheat market continues to be centred on China. They are reports (and rumours) that they have now cancelled orders from US, Australia, France and Canada. Russia and Ukraine keep supplying lower cost wheat on the world market and it is looking like China is taking advantage of this. The cancellations have weakened prices around the world and is probably leading to speculative funds once again increasing the size of their short position (looking for prices to go down).
Soybeans were higher on Friday even with the harvest in Brazil progressing well. There is much talk about the current discrepancy between the final projected yield in Brazil between CONAB and the USDA. Which side ultimately ends up being correct could give this market some price direction. It seems that time will tell this story and we may have to be patient to see how it works out.