Headlines:

  • Serious Damage to Florida Citrus Crop, Says State Ag Commissioner
    Florida, the number one citrus-growing state in the nation, suffered “serious and devastating losses from Hurricane Irma,” said state agriculture commissioner Adam Putnam after an aerial tour of groves in central and southwest Florida. The harvest season for oranges and grapefruit normally begins in October, so the storm arrived as the fruit was nearing maturity. “It’s still too early to know the full extent of the damage to Florida citrus. After touring groves on foot and by air, it’s clear that our signature crop has suffered serious and devastating losses from Hurricane Irma,” said Putnam. Florida grew three out of every five oranges in the country during the 2016/2017 crop year. The crop of 68.7 million boxes was 16% smaller than in 2015/2016, the smallest crop in five years, due to drought and citrus greening disease.
  • EU wheat exports to fall, despite stronger harvest – Strategie Grains
    European Union soft wheat exports will fall this season, despite an increased harvest, Strategie Grains said, warning of the threat posed by former Soviet Union shipments after a huge Russian harvest. The influential analysis group cut by 1.3m tonnes to 23.1m tonnes its forecast for soft wheat exports from the EU, the world’s largest shipper, in 2017-18. The downgrade took the figure below last season’s figure, which it pegged at 24m tonnes, although that is below the official estimate from the European Commission (which sees exports rising by some 1m tonnes this season). And it came despite an upgrade of 1.5m tonnes, to 142.5m tonnes, in Strategie Grains’ estimate for the EU soft wheat harvest this year, taking the figure 6.5m tonnes above last year’s result.

Summary:

Soybean continues to go ignore the perceived bearish data from the WASDE report from Tuesday. November Beans rallied 10 cents yesterday and added another 16 cents today. Soybean Meal futures were also particularly strong the past two days and is perhaps lending some support the Soybean futures. Today’s move has positioned Beans to challenge the highs from earlier in the month from the 7-9. Investments funds have been unusually short both Corn and Soybean futures and we could be seeing the effect of a potential short squeeze. Beans finished the day at the high end of its intraday range, Corn finished in the middle of its range and Wheat closed near bottom of its intraday range.

The USDA released Weekly Export Sales today. Wheat failed to meet analysts’ estimates, Corn came in near the top end of expectations and Soybean exceeded analysts’ expectations. Crude Oil futures finally breached our key $51 price point that we have been touting as a level of significance for this contract. After a strong upside push yesterday, the US Dollar gave back about ½ of the gains from yesterday’s gain.