Headlines:

  • Mexico turns to Muslim consumers, in post-Trump beef trade pivot
    Mexico’s cattle industry faces a struggle to disentangle its “symbiotic” relationship with its northern neighbor, as the country seeks to diversify both its import and export channels.
  • Kansas City wheat futures gain on dry US Plains
    Soybean futures resumed their downward trajectory, as there continue to be very few weather worries for the South American crop.  “Heavy rains across Entre Rios in Argentina and Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil this past week increased wetness concerns a bit for corn and soybeans, but limited showers there through next week should allow wetness to ease,” said Mr Keeney. “Showers are still on tap to build across central and northwestern Brazil which will improve moisture a bit for safrinha corn but will slow soybean harvesting and safrinha corn planting a bit,” he said. “No major issues are expected, though.” “Limited showers across most of Argentina will favor corn and soybeans as the crops reach maturity,” Mr Keeney said.
  • Brazilian farmers call for cheap credit to ease grain storage crunch
    Grain growers in Mato Grosso, Brazil’s top growing state, are moving to address a structural shortage of grain storage, as harvests get ever bigger. The lack of storage forces farmers to move their crops down the supply chain as fast as possible, leaving Brazilian exports vulnerable to the sort of disruption seen this year, when heavy rains damaged a key road route. Last week Aprosoja-MT, the soybean and corn producers association of Brazil’s top grain state, announced a plan to remedy storage problems. The association estimates soybean and maize production at around 55m tonnes, with storage capacity at around 55m tonnes. “Producers and the government need to be aware of this because it is strategic,” said Emerson Zancanaro, coordinator of the association’s agricultural policy commission.

Summary:

The Senate Agriculture Committee has set the start date for the confirmation hearing of USDA Secretary Nominee Sonny Perdue. The Committee will begin the confirmation hearing process Thursday, March 23. The White House released it new budget proposal for 2018 which is calling for $17.9 billion for the USDA. That budget number equates to $4.7 billion cut (21% decline) in funding.  The proposal is meant to keep the USDA’s core values while at the same time eliminate discretionary spending and duplicate programs. Incidentally, the proposal also calls for an increase the military’s budget by $54 billion. The rationale behind the increase aspires to make our military personnel safer and more effective.

Soybeans and grains finished the day mixed and little changed from yesterday’s closes. Investors are forced to mull over the South American production forecasts that keep growing versus the increasingly unfavorable growing weather for US winter Wheat. Wheat futures were able to temporarily halt its recent declines amidst extremely dry weather for the Wheat regions. Little to no rain has fallen in key parts of the southern Plains over the past month based off of data from the National Weather Service. Wheat finished with 2 tick gain. Corn was up 1.75 cents and Soybean dropped 1.25 cents