Headlines
Trump directs U.S. trade officials to ID tariffs on $100 billion more Chinese imports. Argentina expecting rains this weekend and into next week. Cold temperatures across Mid U.S into next week. WASDE report next Tuesday. Exporters sell 458,000 MT of Soybeans for delivery to unknown destinations of which 327,00 MT is for 2017/2018 delivery and 131,000 MT is for 2018/2019 delivery.-USDA Exporters sell 130,632 MT of Soybeans for delivery to Mexico of which 65,316 MT is for 2017/2018 delivery and 65,316 MT is for 2018/2019 delivery.-USDA Exporters sell 20,000 MT of Soybean Oil for delivery to unknown destinations during the 2017/2018 marketing year.-USDA Exporters sell 100,000 MT of Corn for delivery to Egypt during the 2017/2018 marketing year.-USDA
Trump calls for more tariffs
The market traded sharply lower in the overnight session after the White House directed U.S. trade officials to identify tariffs on $100 billion more Chinese imports. China announced it would counter U.S. protectionism “to the end, and at any cost,” in response. The Trump administration responded stated that China’s retaliation was “unfair”. In a statement on Thursday, Trump said “Rather than remedy its misconduct, China has chosen to harm our farmers and manufacturers.” He also stated that the U.S. is still open to discussions “in further support of our commitment to achieving free, fair and reciprocal trade and to protect the technology and intellectual property of American companies and American people.” China formally launched a WTO challenge against Trump’s first round of proposed tariffs yesterday. The China commerce ministry is scheduled to hold a media briefing at 7AM CST.
USDA looking to protect farmers from trade war
The USDA is currently having discussions about ways to protect farmers from the fall-out of a trade war. Secretary Bill Northey stated that there are “a lot of good options out there” and that the USDA needs to “see the reaction of what tariffs will be and what the reaction of markets are”. There have been NO specific proposals yet.
Argentina
Rain is expected each day over the next week. Rain is expected to impact central and southern production areas of Argentina over the weekend and into Tuesday. Rains will slow corn and soybean dry-down.
Plains Wheat
Weekend precipitation favoring southeastern KCBT wheat belt. Temperatures are expected to be colder than normal through Wednesday next week. Cold temperatures on Saturday could damage some plains winter wheat; but, damage is not expected to be major.
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