Corn and soybeans end the day higher | Wednesday, March 23, 2022

U.S. grain prices ended the day higher on corn and soybeans and a bit weaker on wheat.

May corn was up 4¾¢ with December corn futures up 2¼¢.

May soybeans closed the day 22¼¢ higher with November soybean futures 10¢ higher.

May Chicago wheat ended the day 12½¢ lower with Kansas City May wheat futures down by 5¢ and May Minneapolis wheat futures were down 7¼¢.       

Livestock prices closed the day higher. Live cattle and feeder cattle both shrugged off early pressure to post higher prices into the close. June live cattle were up 27½¢ and April feeder cattle were up $1.20. Lean hogs had an impressive rally today with April closing up $2.30 and June hogs up $2.90.

Crude oil is up $5.20, and the Dow futures were 449 points lower.

Even though grain prices ended the day higher on corn and soybeans, they did close out the day well off their highs. Europe will more than likely need to accept GMO traits and look to buy some corn from the United States since they’ll need feed for their livestock with Ukraine shut down for several weeks. I did notice, though, that we’ve had some lower volume here this week, and that seems to make the market a bit more sensitive; when the buying dries up we can pull back pretty quick. The bull spreads were back working again here today.

The cattle market shrugged off early weakness to close out the day higher. I am hearing of higher cash prices for this week. Also, there is some concern of overall cattle numbers for later this summer into the fall. Lean hogs had an impressive rally: Demand looks to be very strong as packers are out looking for hogs.

Overall, it feels like we’re seeing some interest come back into commodities over the inflation trade and food supply. With Ukraine off limits for now, this has a few countries concerned over supply of food and feed for their animals. Beans had a positive close here today, closing above $17 futures finally. Corn continues to trade above resistance at $7.63, but we failed again to close above the $7.63 level.

Farmer selling in the country in both old crop and new crop seems to be pretty quiet. Farmers are getting ready to plant this year’s crop and with all the issues we have across the United States and the world, look for farmers to hold on to their last few bushels until we have this year’s crop off to a good start.

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At midday, May corn futures up 5¢ to 6¢ with December corn futures up 45¢. May soybean futures are 20¢ to 21¢ higher with November futures up 11¢ to 12¢. May Chicago wheat is 5¢ lower, May Kansas City wheat is 2¢ lower, and May Minneapolis is 2¢ lower as well.

Livestock prices are mixed with live cattle 50¢ to 60¢ lower, feeder cattle are 50¢ to 70¢ lower, and lean hogs up $1.75 to $3.25 per hundred.

Crude oil is up $6.05 this morning, and the Dow futures are 254 points lower.

Weekly ethanol numbers were out this morning. We saw ethanol production up 16,000 barrels per day with stocks up 203,000 barrels from the previous week and gasoline demand down 307,000 barrels from last week. Overall these number are a touch negative.

Bull spreads are doing very well today. Reminder: a bull spread is when the front month (May futures) is heading higher than the deferred months (July futures). This type of market action is usually friendly to the markets. We are hearing Europe will more than likely need to accept GMO corn as they will be looking to buy some corn for feed needs from the United States.

We seem to have a renewed concern over food price inflation and overall food supplies as many countries who are reliant upon Russia and Ukraine look to get supplies from other countries. This has helped add support to U.S. grain prices as the U.S. looks to pick up more demand since the war in Ukraine is likely to last several weeks.

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8:45 a.m.

U.S. grain prices are higher this morning outpacing the strength from the overnight session. May corn futures are 7½¢ higher; May soybean futures are 24¢ higher; May Chicago wheat is 10¢ higher; May Kansas City wheat futures are 11¢ higher; and May Minneapolis wheat futures are 10¢ higher.

Livestock prices are mixed this morning. Live cattle are 50¢ to 75¢ lower, feeder cattle are 70¢ to 80¢ lower, and lean hog futures are $2 to $2.80 higher.

Crude oil is up $4.80 this morning and the stock market is down 210 points to start off Wednesday’s trade.

President Biden will meet with other European allies to discuss more sanctions against Russia. The country continues to attack and is trying to take over the city of Mariupol. Mariupol is a key gateway for Russia to access the Black Sea for exports. Ukraine is doing its best to hold its ground.

Looking at grain prices this morning, keep a close eye on May corn futures. A close above $7.63 will be a bullish sign. Also a close of May soybeans above $17 would also be bullish. We have seen December corn futures trade at contract highs this week and continue to push higher as traders are putting more risk premium in the December contract.

Cattle markets seem to be consolidating and establishing a nice low. We seem to have good supply of beef for the next few months, but we are hearing that feedlot numbers will likely drop during the summer months as supply of calves will be down because of cows being liquidated in North Dakota and Montana last summer.

Keep a close eye on where May corn and soybean futures close today!

Editor’s Note: Cory Bratland is a chief grain strategist with Kluis Commodity Advisors.