Marketing

21-Hour CBOT Grain Futures Trade Starts

Tue, 22 May 2012 15:37:00 +0000

Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) grain futures began trading expanded hours on Sunday evening after the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Friday granted fast approval to a new proposal for 21-hour trade from CME Group Inc. the CBOT's parent company.

CSD Blogs and Opinions

May 10 USDA Reports Bring Mixed Results

Tue, 15 May 2012 20:24:00 +0000

The USDA Crop Production and World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WADSE) reports released May 10 were regarded as bearish for the corn market and bullish for the soybean market in the coming months. Corn stocks are expected to double by the end of the 2012-2013 crop marketing year, while the ending soybean stocks are expected to be at the tightest level on record by the end of the 2012-2013 marketing year, which runs from Sept. 1, 2012 to Aug. 31, 2013.

CSD Blogs and Opinions

3 Things to Watch After May USDA Reports: Corn Yield, Soybean Acreage, Corn Feed/Residual Use

Tue, 15 May 2012 20:20:00 +0000

USDA reports frequently move markets and last week’s first supply/demand for the 2012 grain and oilseed crops was no exception. The day of the report, July corn closed down 20¢/bu. and cotton down 4¢/lb., while July beans closed 25¢/bu. higher and wheat 1¢ higher. Despite the immediate market reaction to the numbers, some aspects of the reports are debatable. Here are a few numbers Brock analysts expect to change.

CSD Blogs and Opinions

U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement Goes Into Effect May 15

Tue, 15 May 2012 19:19:00 +0000

Source: USDA

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack made the following statement about the U.S-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement, or Colombia TPA, which enters into force today."Beginning today, U.S. agricultural exporters receive duty-free access on more than half of the products we currently export to Colombia, and virtually all remaining tariffs will be eliminated within 15 years."

Corn Market Direction Unfolding; Magnitude Still Uncertain

Mon, 14 May 2012 20:53:00 +0000

Source: University of Illinois

The USDA’s projections of U.S. and world corn and feed grain supply-and-demand conditions presented in the May World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report set the benchmark by which the corn market will judge unfolding events. According to Darrel Good, a University of Illinois agricultural economist, those events are continually unfolding, with some of the more important ones to be revealed this summer.

2012- 2013 Corn Marketing Year Expectations

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 19:24:00 +0000

Source: University of Illinois

The steady decline in prices over the past few months reflects, in part, expectations for a large 2012 U.S. corn crop and some rebuilding of inventories during the year ahead, according to University of Illinois Agricultural Economist Darrel Good.

Has the 2011 Corn Crop Been Rationed?

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:45:00 +0000

Source: University of Illinois

As corn prices have declined substantially over the past week and the prospect is for relatively small ending stocks, Darrel Good, a University of Illinois agricultural economist, believes it is important to continue to monitor the rate of corn consumption to confirm that the necessary rationing is occurring.

Lock In Soybeans | $12 or $13 Soybean Prices are Tempting

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 21:28:00 +0000

Are the fundamentals surrounding soybeans causing prices to surpass expectations? At least one Corn Belt grain marketing specialist thinks so. And it could be a signal for you to sell more beans this spring. Price volatility can take the life out of a market in a flash.

Hedging with an Opinion

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 21:17:00 +0000

Last month I explored the hedging practices of merchandisers, exporters and processors, and how it is more than avoiding risk. These are basis traders who employ the purest form of hedging - placing long and short hedges regardless of price expectations or market opinion.

Marketing 101: HTA is Not a Four-Letter Word

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 21:01:00 +0000

HTAs can be a marketing tool that offers the benefits of hedging without threat of a margin call. But many think first of the hedge-to-arrive fiascoes in the mid-1990s. They are among a range of forward contracts offered by grain elevators, ethanol plants and other grain buyers, says Melvin Brees, University of Missouri Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) economist.