The week was split in to two sections; 1) Price declines from trade worries and 2) price rebounds from continued planting woes. The week started out with precipitous declines in wheat, corn, soybeans, and cotton, all trading on the previous Friday’s new tariffs from the Trump administration and the news of new and increased tariffs on U.S. goods out of Beijing. Dec Corn dropped over 2.0% from Monday open to Tuesday’s low, while wheat and soybeans dropped over the weekend. Once the new bearish news from the tariffs was priced in the fundamentals from delayed plantings and forecasts of more wet weather took hold. See the Soybean and Corn tables below for just how far behind planting is in some key states according to the 5/13/2019 Crop Progress Report. Delayed plantings mean potential for lowered supply, and therefore specs and others begin entering long positions, especially since the price was already so low on the trade spookiness. Dec Corn is showing significant strength as prices rebounded above $4.00 Thursday night.
If planting delays continue in key production states there is some real potential for the technical signals to move new corn back up between $4.00 and $4.30, but breaking through the $4.30 upper barrier, around where the market has maxed out, would take a combination of planting issues and some other fundamental signal. Right now the market is testing $4.00 and if we break through that level the next test is around $4.10, followed by $4.20, and $4.30.
Next week: Watch for rallies in the corn market on the new crop progress report. There is significant precipitation forecast for the weekend and early week (up to 3″ in parts of the Midwest). This could decrease the days suitable for fieldwork and lead to either prevent plant decisions or a switch to soybeans. Some of that will depend on how the weather actually pans out over the weekend. There might also be room for upward movement from increased ethanol demand based on the EU’s announcement that they will drop their anti-dumping duties against U.S. ethanol.
Important Dates:
- Late May through early June – Numerous final plant dates and late plant dates for insurance (speak with your insurance provider for detailed dates)
- May 20, 2019 – Crop Progress, NASS
- May 24, 2019 – Cattle on Feed, NASS
In the News:
Science – African swine fever keeps spreading in Asia, threatening food security
Business Insider –Trump just ramped up tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods. Here are all the products that will get hit.
CNBC – From tequila to TV cameras — here is a list of US goods China is targeting with a 25% tariff
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