Corn was higher for the fifth consecutive session as wet weather concerns have boosted the market this week. CN was 4 ¼ cents better today and CZ tacked on 1 ¾ cents. After making life of contract lows Monday morning, corn rallied to close higher each day of the week with CN gaining 31 ½ cents this week and CZ up 26 ¼ cents. Trade talk today revolved around how much of the U.S. corn crop NASS will show is in the ground in Monday afternoon’s crop progress report. It is anticipated that Monday’s report will show U.S. corn planting about 50% complete, which would be the slowest pace since formal estimates began in 1987 (slowest progress the third week of May was 56% in 1995). Rains across Iowa, northern Illinois, and parts of Indiana and Ohio the past couple of days have limited field work and forecasts still show a very wet pattern continuing across the Midwest the next ten days to two weeks. Final planting dates for corn range from May 25th across the Great Plains to June 5 for most of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan. After the final planting date has been reached producers can take the prevent plant insurance option, taking a payment in lieu of planting. This appears to be a potentially attractive option for producers this year and could cause a significant decrease in planted acreage from the current USDA projection.
Soybeans were moderately lower as the week ended with SN down 18 cents and SX 17 ½ cents in the red. This week, SN gained 12 ½ cents; SX added 14 cents. Although the strong corn and wheat markets had helped to support soybeans earlier this week, beans were pressured today by concern about additional 2019 production as some producers are expected to switch acres from corn to soybeans due to the late planting dates. There has also been talk of additional aid payments to producers, centered again around soybeans. Some feel the producer may be more inclined to plant a few extra soybean acres to be eligible for the anticipated payments. There are at least 264 million bu. of outstanding old crop soybean sales to China. The newly enacted tariffs the U.S. placed on Chinese goods this week may cause China to cancel some, if not all, of these purchases. No new trade talks between the U.S. and China are currently scheduled. Monday’s crop progress report is expected to show less than 20% of the U.S. soybean crop planted.
Stanford Grain Company
