In the overnight session the grains traded lower with corn down 2 1/4 cents, soybeans down 8 3/4 cents and wheat down 9 1/2 cents this morning. Crude oil is trading up 25 cents and the U.S. dollar is down nearly a quarter of a percent.
On Wednesday, the EIA ethanol production report showed a weekly decline of 26,000 barrels per day to 968,000 barrels per day. Weekly production was 15,000 barrels per day above last year’s pace and well above the four year average of 898,000 barrels per day. This year’s production is 4.6 percent above last year’s levels. Ethanol stocks fell 308,000 barrels this week to 19.532 million barrels.
Old crop corn sales showed 594,300 metric tons was booked last week, up 20 percent from the previous week and on the high side of analyst expectations which ranged from 300,000 to 600,000 metric tons. New crop sales met expectations by booking 238,900 metric tons this week. Soybean sales disappointed analysts with net reductions by 10,300 metric tons, well below what analysts were expecting which ranged from 100,000 to 200,000 metric tons. New crop soybean sales were also light, booking 127,500 metric tons this week. Wheat sales met expectations booking 363,900 metric tons.
