Add over a million acres of spring wheat, and subtract more than two million acres of soybeans… There were a few surprises in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Prospective Plantings report published on Thursday. The department pegged soybean acres at 89.0 million acres — more than two million below the average trade estimate of 91.1 million,… Read More
Category: Markets
Grain markets this week took a bit of a geopolitical hit with a subdued approach to more talk of trade war. Specifically, this week, U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans to place tariffs on about $50 billion worth of Chinese imports. But China isn’t ready to be pushed around. On Friday, the country announced a… Read More
Grain markets had another volatile week as we dealt with conflicting bullish and bearish variables including, but not limited to: exports, acreage forecasts, weather forecasts, and currency swings. Sounds like a normal week, right? First, the Canadian dollar lost nearly 2% this week to close under 76.5 cents USD. This is the first time it… Read More
Cattle and lean hogs futures have slid in the past 30 days as livestock producers look to protect themselves from downside risk. Besides oats, which are down 10% in the past month, the protein complex has been the worst performer of all the agricultural commodities in the last month. In the past 30 days: April… Read More
If the very idea of a digital currency makes you blank out, worry not — there are very few out there who would argue that Bitcoin has a large role to play in agriculture. If you’ve lumped the blockchain concept in with Bitcoin, that’s where you need to pause and investigate further. Because, while the… Read More
This past week’s grain markets were highlighted by the USDA’s March installment of the monthly WASDE report. Going into the report, the market was looking for some big changes to South American production possibilities, but it wasn’t necessarily expecting the American balance sheet to provide the surprises. The USDA dropped its estimate of the Argentine… Read More
Statistics Canada has confirmed once again that Canadian cattle producers are not following their American counterparts in expanding the beef herd. The federal agency published its January 1, 2018, inventory report this week, and Anne Wasko, of Gateway Livestock, walks us through the numbers in this Beef Market Update. First of all, for the not-so-analytical… Read More
February 2018 will go down in history as the month that Argentina’s soybean crop hit a new crisis level. Ongoing drought across the region coupled with delays in Brazil’s harvest has unleashed speculations across the soybean complex. For the month, the May contract in Chicago closed at 5.5%, continuing the frantic surge caused by short-term… Read More
Grain markets worked with a four-day work week to end sideways or up from the week previous. Limited rains in Argentina and the U.S. Southern Plains helped add a few sparks. For the May 2018 corn contract, prices moved just half a cent lower to end at 3.745 USD / bushel on the Chicago Board… Read More
Cattle markets have remained strong, although we saw a technical correction lower on the futures market this week. “Maybe we’re getting a little numb to it, but futures markets continue to be extremely explosive whenever they tend to move. Up until this week, the market’s been building to recent highs, but futures markets, led by… Read More