Headlines:

  • Brazil’s Farmers Will Cut Corn Acres Significantly
    When crop prices are so low, farmers always want reassurance of a profitable payout for their production. In Brazil, that payout has become too low. As a result, farmers are prepared to cut corn production in half this year. The South American country is about to finish harvesting a winter corn crop of nearly 97 million metric tons, according to the National Supply Company, and Brazilian farmers are also not happy at all with the cash paid. In a farm show near Porto Alegre (Rio Grande do Sul), Paulo Bertolini, director of the Brazilian Association of Corn Growers, anticipated that in his view, the first crop (the one that is about to be planted in Brazil) would have a surface reduction of nearly 50%. “This always happens. When one harvest does not pay well, most farmers reduce a lot of the surface. During the first crop, it is likely that the prices would be good again. Then, the second corn crop, which we used to call small crop (safrinha), will continue to be bigger than the first crop as a reaction and even because it is only grown in the states with more surface available,” Bertolini forecasts.
  • Perdue Announces New Steps in USDA Reorganization
    Building on a controversial USDA reorganization rolled out in May, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced further steps to realign “a number of offices within the U.S. Department of Agriculture in order to improve customer service and maximize efficiency.” Among several steps, the Grain Inspection, Packers, and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) will be merged into the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS). Currently, both GIPSA and AMS carry out grading activities and work to ensure fair trade practices, the USDA said. Grain inspection activities will become a separate area within AMS; the Packers and Stockyards Program will be merged into a new structure that is part of the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act. The National Grain and Feed Association, along with the North American Export Grain Association, applauded moving the grain inspection service into AMS. “We strongly support this much-needed realignment … which we believe will help the agency better fulfill its statutory obligation to provide reliable, accurate, timely, impartial, and cost-effective services,” said NGFA President Randy Gordon and NAEGA President and CEO Gary Martin.

Summary:

We had a mixed day in the markets today. Corn was up 1.25 cents, Wheat was basically flat with a gain of 2 tics and Soybean was down 7.25 as we close the shorted Labor Day week. The USDA released its Weekly Export Sales report which showed Soybean at 1.154 million metric tons and Corn at 1.22 million metric tons. Both of which were at about the middle of trade estimates . Wheat came in at 375,500 metric tons which was near the low end of trade estimates. Overnight strength in Beans and Corn from concern over dry weather in much of the Midwest the past week and worries that Hurricane Irma will delay the Delta harvest waned at the day progressed. Crude Oil was in trouble today and is still finding trouble overcoming our $51.00 resistance threshold. The US Dollar was also weaker again today and is yet to find sold ground. It has been down all year and continues to suffer damage. Private exporters reported 264k metric tons of Soybean for delivery to China for the 2017-18 marketing year and 179,324 metric tons of Corn for delivery to ‘Unknown’ for the 2017-18 marketing year.