Corn and Beans Firmer last Week

Corn had a pretty good week with the weekly charts looking a little encouraging. Export sales for corn are really picking up with weekly sales at 74.3 million bushel. We are still behind the USDA projections but at this pace we will be on track quickly. It seems like corn prices might be getting a little support from less than ideal weather in Brazil and Argentina. I read that the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange rated the corn crop in Argentina at 12 percent good to excellent and 44.9 percent poor to very poor. last year at this time corn was rated 33.4 percent good to excellent and 32.7 percent poor to very poor.

Beans had a pretty good week too as March and new crop November saw the highest close since early December. Beans had good export sales of 1.24 MMT with almost half of that going to China. Soybean meal has rallied about $20 a ton in the last couple weeks likely supported by the cold weather and increased demand. The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange  rated the bean crop 37.3 percent good to excellent compared to last year's 52.6 percent good to excellent. It was also encouraging that both corn and beans were firmer in the overnight session.