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Can Export Sales Lift the Markets?

Export sales were released this morning revealing lackluster demand.

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In the overnight session the grains moved higher with corn up 2 3/4 cents, soybeans up 1/4 cent and wheat up 8 1/4 cents. The dollar index continues to move lower this morning following yesterday’s April retail numbers. Crude oil is down 30 cents this morning trading around the $60 mark.

Export sales were relatively unimpressive this morning with old crop corn exports the biggest disappointment. Old crop corn sales were reported at 370,000 metric tons, down 56 percent from last week and missing expectations which ranged from 600,000-800,000 metric tons. Old crop wheat sales reported 115,000 metric tons which was on the high side of expectations which ranged from cancellations to sales of 100,000 metric tons. This week’s wheat sales were a significant improvement over last week’s 148,000 metric ton cancellations. Soybeans reported sales of 136,000 metric tons which was down 60 percent from the previous week and on the low end of expectations.

Ethanol production jumped week over week by 25,000 barrels per day bringing total weekly production to 912,000 bpd. Despite the weekly improvement ethanol production is still in a downward trend that began in December. This week’s figures mark only the third time this marketing year that weekly production fell below 2013 levels. Cumulative ethanol production is up 4.8 percent from 2013, which is ahead of USDA expectations for an increase of 1.3 percent over last year. The May WASDE report left corn used for ethanol unchanged on the balance sheet.

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