Headlines:

  • A Solid Majority Likely in Senate for Perdue, Says Grassley
    Sonny Perdue can expect a broad and bipartisan vote in the Senate next week to become agriculture secretary, though it won’t be unanimous, said Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA), an Agriculture Committee member. Perdue, a former two-term governor of Georgia, is arguably the least controversial of President Trump’s cabinet nominees, and Grassley told reporters that he expects “not more than 40 votes against him.” The confirmation vote on Perdue is scheduled for Monday as the first roll call when the 52 Republican and 48 Democratic senators return from a two-week vacation. He would have a historically late start to his term — 13 weeks after Trump took office; almost all agriculture secretaries have taken office on inauguration day or soon after. “He’s probably on the job already,” studying issues he will face at the USDA, said Grassley
  • Heavy carry-over stocks will support Black Sea wheat exports
    The slower-than-expected pace of Black Sea wheat exports so far this season will result in ample supplies and strong exports next season, despite falling production, US officials said. Local US Department of Agriculture bureaus in Russia and Ukraine trimmed their ideas of exports in this season for both countries. But Russian wheat exports will hit new record highs next season, with Ukrainian exports also remaining resilient, as traders continue push heavy old-crop stocks out the door, the officials said.
  • Brazil’s safrinha harvest could leave ‘huge piles’ of corn without storage
    Millions of tonnes of Brazilian corn could be left outside, if farmers do not clear out soybeans before the safrinha harvest starts in June, analyst Dr Michael Cordonnier warns. “Brazil always has a chronic shortage of storage space for its increasing grain production, but this year it could be even worse,” Mr Cordonnier said. “Brazilian farmers produced a record large soybean crop and they may also produce a record large safrinha corn crop as well, so just the large production estimates alone have people worried about having enough storage space.”

Summary:

The Chinese government announced that they will be cutting their value-added tax on farm and natural gas products from 13% to 11% in hope of spurring economic growth. The proposed tax cuts slated for this year are part of larger efforts to manage slower growth in the world’s second-largest economy. Beijing is working to efficiently transition away from its aging model of manufacturing-led growth to a model that is powered by consumption and services.

Weekly corn export sales totaled 756.4 MT for the 2016-17 marketing year which was at the low end of trade estimates that ranged from 700 to 1000 MT (an additional 91.8 MT was reported for the for 2017-18 marketing year). Corn price struggled today given the weak sales numbers. Weekly soybean export sales were well below trade estimates that ranged from 300 to 500 MT coming in at 211 MT for the 2016-17 marketing year.  Estimates for the 201-18 marketing year were from 100-300 MT with the actual coming in at a meager 14 MT. November Beans were down 4.75 on the day but essentially traded in the same trading range as it did yesterday. Weekly wheat export sales came in closer to the higher end of expectation at 414 MT. Trade estimates were from 250 to 450 MT for the old crop and 100 to 300 MT for the new crop. The new crop sales figure was in the middle of the range at 137.2 MT.