Market Report: Corn Mixed Beans Sharply Higher Monday

It was a quiet day Monday in the corn market as corn closed about unchanged. Corn seemed to be pulled in different directions. Corn was supported by the big gains in beans and pulled down by lower wheat prices. Export loadings saw another big number at 1.451 MMT. Export loadings are now just 5.7 percent behind last year's pace. The longer range 30- to 90-day forecast is still calling for above-normal temperatures. I suspect traders were focusing more on the lower temperatures this week than the long-range forecast.

Beans saw another big day with gains of 26-30 cents higher. The day began with the USDA announcing a sale of 5 million bushels of old crop beans sold to an unknown destination. Export loadings were OK at 272,066 MT. Traders seem to be concerned about the old crop carryover getting tighter with the great demand we have seen this summer and the possibility of less than ideal weather in those longer range forecasts. There seems to be no question we are picking up export business that would have gone to South America. Remember, Argentina lost a lot of beans due to very wet weather during harvest.