Weekly Crop Commentary - 4/26/2024

Wes Bahan
Vice President, Grain Division

Good afternoon. Well, wheat has been the word of the week. In the last 7 trading sessions July wheat has rallied 70¢ off the lows. This is quite a feat indeed, as the old-crop wheat spreads are making new lows. We have enough wheat to get through to the new crop, but freeze warnings in the heartland, dryness in Russia, and condition declines in Europe have fund-traders looking to even-up on their short position on wheat. This did spark some buying interest in corn, but it was a follower for sure.

This week we had a fantastic export sales number for corn. Just under 1.3MMT for the week of old-crop corn, this number is almost 75% higher than the 4-week average. Loadings reported were also a marketing-year high, with Mexico being the number one destination. Planting wasn’t in full force, but there were some braving the cold temps and putting corn in the ground this week. With temps flirting with 80 next week, it looks to be game-time if we don’t get too much rain, and the forecast looks to have garden variety amounts in it.

There were a lot of beans getting planted this week. It's amazing how the seed treatments have allowed beans to be planted so much earlier, and the benefit of capturing that sunlight is real when harvest rolls around. If you haven’t already, and would like to put some bushels into the soybean average price program, you have until May 8th to do so. As always thanks for your business and have a safe planting season.

Lou Baughman
Grain Merchandiser, Kenton (Region 1)

Wheat was the big mover this week rallying almost 60¢. The U.S. wheat ratings declined, and Russia is having production concerns but the main reason for the run-up was Funds covering their short position. Corn and beans are still treading water, which is not a terrible thing, they could be sliding down.

Rains this week have improved many dry areas in the Corn Belt. We are still watching South America's problems with weather and their production losses that could possibly increase.

Corn export numbers were very good. Sales were 51.2 million bushels with Mexico purchasing both old and new crop, South Korea and Japan also had sizeable purchases. Wheat and Soybeans failed to hit the estimations, with wheat only having 3 million bushels sold and beans just 7.7 million bushels for the week of April 18th.

The ground is starting to dry, producers are putting anhydrous on, and some have started planting. Monday’s Planting Progress Report should show a significant increase in acres. Have a safe weekend.

Lisa Warne
Grain Merchandiser, Marysville (Region 4)

Here we are, the last Friday in April already. The market has had a good week with all three commodities higher. Cash corn and beans were also aided with a nickel improvement in basis on Wednesday afternoon. Wheat stole the headlines though, rallying 60¢ at its high. The Funds were doing some short covering this week, as well as news out of India, the 3rd largest wheat producer in the world, announcing their lowest wheat stock level in 16 years. It’s possible they may need to import wheat for the first time since 2017.

Locally, we saw dust flying and tractors rolling, I heard from several customers who were spraying and planting this week. We have a couple more days to get fieldwork done before the next chance of rain. U.S. corn planting percentage doubled from 6% to 12% on Monday’s report, while soybeans jumped from 3% to 8% planted. Ohio has yet to add to the progress on last week’s report, but that will be changing soon, I imagine. Have a great weekend and stay safe out there!