Markets Thursday: Corn Firmer, Beans Weaker

Thursday was the fifth day in a row corn closed higher, posting gains of 2-3 cents. My sense is traders are fading that very bearish acres report from the USDA last week. The day of the report, corn was about 16 cents lower. We have now recovered about 14 cents of those losses. Corn planting is being delayed in the South because it is too wet. In the Midwest, even in the "I" states it has been too cold to plant corn. So, traders are thinking some of those intended corn acres will be switched to other crops.

Beans closed 2-3 cents lower Thursday. Bean traders are starting to factor in more acres this year than the USDA  acres report indicated. Bean meal and oil were lower, so that likely put a little pressure on beans, too. Export sales were a bit supportive at 15.4 million bushels. Even though we are 7 percent behind last year's sales pace, we are 1 percent ahead of the USDA forecast for the marketing year. CONAB in Brazil lowered their bean estimate from 101.2 MMT to 99 MMT.