Market Report: Corn Weaker Beans Firmer

It was a fairly quiet day today, almost as if traders are waiting for more harvest results so they can get an understanding about how big the crop is this year. Export sales were light today at 426,300 MT. We are only three weeks into the new marketing year. Remember corn sales and loadings always start the new marketing year slow and they pick up after harvest and into January. Lately corn has been in a tight range from $3.90 to $3.70 in the December contract.

Beans managed to close 4 cents higher. Export sales were outstanding at 1.316 MMT. In addition there was a daily export sales announcement of over 300 MT. Finally the Iowa Soybean Association reported that China agreed to a one-time purchase of 484 million bushels of beans. That is a record one-time sale with a value of $5.3 billion! All of the demand for beans from the United States and all beans can muster is a gain of 4 cents a bushel? It sure seems like Gordy is right. He has said many time that the funds are short and they want to keep a lid on bean prices until the end of the month and quarter so they get their big incentives.