Headlines:
- Rain Is Coming Back to the Midwest, Harvest Delays Won’t Be Significant
A nearly 10-day window of dry harvest weather may be ending for Midwest farmers. Rain is coming back into the Corn Belt, but there is good news for farmers: It won’t last long. After a dry stretch so far this week, rain will move into the western part of the Midwest by late Thursday. “That rainy pattern is expected to move into the central and eastern Corn Belt on Friday, before easing up on Saturday and returning to the northwestern Midwest on Sunday,” according to Don Keeney, senior ag meteorologist at Radiant Solutions. A storm is pushing through the southwestern Plains that could slow harvest down for a bit with rain this weekend. Then the rain will hold off at the beginning of next week, before returning next Thursday and Friday, Keeney says. “Neither rain event should produce any heavy rainfall,” Keeney says. “There won’t be any issues with (too much) wetness or flooding.” Harvest has already experienced delay in much of the Midwest after significant rainfall in late September and early October. In Iowa, the average rainfall in October is 2.6 inches. That average total was already surpassed this month on October 9. The USDA’s Crop Progress Report released on Monday showed that corn harvest was ahead of the five-year average at 49%, but soybeans were only 53% complete, significantly below the five-year average of 69% at this time. The rain could cause slight delays in harvest, but it won’t be nearly as bad as the precipitation experienced last month, which is good news for farmers.
- ABCD Quartet of Grain Traders Partner to Digitize Global Trades
The world’s four largest agribusinesses are working together to standardize and digitize international grain trades using technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence, the companies announced on Thursday. Archer Daniels Midland Co, Bunge Ltd, Cargill Inc, and Louis Dreyfus Co, known collectively as the ABCDs of global grain trading, said the effort would make international commodities trades more efficient and transparent and reduce costs. The aim is to replace a system that relies on paper contracts and invoices and manual payments with an automated electronic system, the companies said in a joint press release. The companies did not disclose further details of the effort or how soon a new system would be rolled out.
The effort mirrors moves by other companies and industries to make supply chains more traceable by using technologies such as blockchain, which is a shared record of data maintained by a network of computers, rather than a trusted third party. Louis Dreyfus completed the first agricultural commodity transaction using blockchain in January, CEO Ian McIntosh said in the release.
Summary:
Argentine grain movement picked up again after a trucker strike that only lasted a day. Harvest progress could hit some snags as the Midwest looks to get hit with showers over the weekend. Reports suggest that the trilateral trade agreement (USMCA) and the E15 gasoline year around program should reduce the damage from the US – China trade war. Corn futures dropped on weak export sales that came in at 349.5k metric tons which was shy of the low end of trade estimates that ranged from 400k to 800k metric tons. Last week sales figure was at 382.5k metric tons. Soybean futures was down for a third consecutive day. Continued tension between the US and China along with weak export sales numbers kept pressure on the bean market. Soybean export sales came in at its lowest levels this marketing year at 213k metric tons and below trade estimates that ranged from 300k to 700k metric tons. Wheat futures continue to tumble after clearing key support it has been in freefall. Export sales has been slow moving and an increase in world production have taken its toll on Wheat prices. The International Grain Council reported a rise in the world wheat production estimates from 717M metric tons to 729M metric tons. Export sales came in at 442.6k metric tons.
