In the overnight session the grains were mixed with March corn down 1 ½ cents, March soybeans up 1 ½ cents and March wheat down 1 ¼ cents. Soybeans wiped away all the gains in the previous session and pushed through the December 22nd low.
Ethanol production increased from last week to the second highest level on record, moving from from 1.077 Million barrels per day to 1.090 million barrels per day. Ethanol production continues to run at a breakneck pace and ahead of the USDA’s corn used for ethanol estimates. Ethanol stocks declined a bit last week to 22.031 million barrels from 22.320 million barrels the week before. Despite the weekly decline, ethanol stocks are still ahead of last years levels on a same week basis.
Following the blast that killed one and left others injured, grain inspectors and crushers called a 48 hour strike throughout Argentina on Thursday. The strike was widespread and organized by the URGARA labor union and included facilities on the Timbues, San Lorenzo and General San Martin.
Export sales were on the high side of expectations this week for both corn and wheat. Wheat sales were down from last week but in line with the four week average. Corn sales declined 20 percent from the previous week, but beat analyst expectations. Soybean sales were also down 44 percent from the previous week and had sales on the low range of analyst expectations.
Weekly Export Sales-
|
Actual |
Estimated |
|
|
Wheat - NC |
478 |
250-550 |
|
Corn - OC |
1,245 |
600-1,100 |
|
Soybeans - OC |
974 |
800-1,500 |
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