Another Typical Week for Corn and Beans

Corn prices were a little weaker last week but seemed to hold fairly well. For the week corn lost 2 to 3 cents. The markets were closed Friday for Good Friday and the Easter weekend so we did not get the Commitment of Traders Report. That should be released today after the close. It will likely show the funds are record short around 300,000 contracts. That would be extremely short for this time of year. It sure would be nice to get some sort of bullish news to get the funds to cover and we could see a nice rally!

It was a tough week for beans as beans lost another 14 to 15 cents last week. The funds are thought to be short around 70,000 contracts.  With the USDA projecting a 900 million bushel carryover it will be tough to get beans to rally very much. When the trade war with China began last June toe USDA assumed the U.S. would not export any beans to China. That is why the carryover was increased to 900 million bushels.

Well, since then China has bought a lot of beans from the U.S. and a lot of Pork. Those purchases have been made even with the Trade War and tariffs. Pork prices have increased 20 percent but bean prices have only worked lower. Why does it matter in the hog markets but not the soybeans?