TFM Morning Update 12-02-2024

CORN

Corn futures are trading slightly lower this morning as the dollar trades higher after President-elect Trump threatened 100% tariffs on all BRIC nations if they moved to undermine the US dollar. On a friendly note, March corn gained 7 cents for the month of November.
Last week’s export sales for corn fell slightly from the previous week at 1,130k tons which compared to 1,495k tons the previous week. The main buyers were Mexico, South Korea, and unknown destinations.
Some pressure in the corn market may be coming from good South American weather that is expected to remain beneficial over the next 10 days. Export demand is good, but there is a large number of corn bushels sold to China that have not yet been shipped and could be at risk for cancellation.

Soybean futures are trading lower this morning but have recovered slightly off their overnight lows. The grain complex as a whole has not reacted positively to all of the recent tariff threats as they generally cause the dollar to move higher.
Soybean meal is trading slightly higher this morning while bean oil is lower. On Friday, it was shown that soybean crush for October came in at 210.6 million bushels which was a 4.6% increase from a year ago.
In Brazil, soybean conditions are seen as very good with Agroconsult estimating the 24/25 crop at a record 172.2 million bushels. AgRural has estimated that 91% of the bean crop has been planted so far.

All three wheat classes are trading lower this morning with pressure from the dollar. March Chicago wheat came within 3/4 of a cent from taking out its August contract low, but so far remains above it.
Russia is expected to lower its wheat exports by a larger number than usual as a result of a smaller than expected crop. Officials have approved a wheat export quota of 11 million tons for the second half of the season from Feb 15 to June 30.
Friday’s export sales report saw more disappointing numbers at just 367k tons compared to 550k tons the previous week. Top buyers were unknown, Taiwan, and Vietnam.

Amanda Brill