Market Report: Corn Unchanged, Beans Higher

It was a little unusual to see beans up double digits but corn about unchanged. Corn had a very narrow range of about 4 cents. The Dollar Index was both sides of unchanged but it still is at its lowest level since the middle of October. Export sales for corn were a little weak at 405,000 MT, but there was a daily announcement of 152,400 MT of corn sold to an unknown destination. From the recent highs, the Dollar Index has dropped enough to make our corn 40 cents a bushel cheaper to a foreign buyer. Hopefully we will see corn export sales ramp up.

Beans had a really good day, posting gains of 10-11 cents. The weekly export sales report was supportive at 666,800 MT. In addition to the lower Dollar Index making our beans cheaper, the slow harvest pace in South America hopefully will keep the demand coming to the U.S. a little longer. Beans managed to have a nice rally in spite of the Dow being pummeled again. At one point Thursday afternoon the Dow was down more than 400 points.