Pro Farmer's First Thing Today: Crop Progress Report, Fuel Shortage and More
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Good Morning farm country. Davis Michaelsen here with your morning update for Tuesday, May 11. From Pro Farmer’s First Thing Today, these are some of the stories we are watching this morning:
Corn futures are trading high-range and split, with old-crop 1 to 5 cents higher and new-crop down roughly a penny. Soybean futures have reversed early losses to trade steady to 8 cents higher, with nearbys leading. SRW and HRS wheat futures are mostly 6 to 7 cents higher, while HRW wheat is up 2 to 4 cents. The U.S. dollar index down slightly, while crude oil futures are posting modest losses.
Following are highlights from USDA’s crop progress and condition update for the week ending May 9.
- Corn: 67% planted, 20% emerged
- Soybeans: 42% planted, 10% emerged
- Spring wheat: 70% planted, 29% emerged
- Winter wheat: 48% rated “good” to “excellent,” 38% headed
- Cotton: 25% planted
Brazil will likely produce just a 97 MMT corn crop in 2020-21m forecasts South American Crop Consultant Dr. Michael Cordonnier. That’s a 3-MMT dive from his projection last week. His bias is neutral to lower going forward. Cordonnier raised his Brazilian soybean crop estimate by 1 MMT to 134 MMT, citing good yields in Rio Grande do Sul.
Gas stations along the U.S. East Coast are starting to run out of fuel as North America’s biggest petroleum pipeline fights to recover from a cyberattack. The White House said it was aware of shortages in the Southeast of the country and was trying to alleviate the problem.
Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said yesterday he had a “good meeting” at the White House, as lawmakers continue to negotiate Biden’s economic proposals and infrastructure priorities.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York's Survey of Consumer Expectations for April found that Americans thought prices would rise 3.4% over the next year, the highest level since September 2013.
National Cattlemen’s Beef Association CEO Colin Woodall met with U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai on May 7 to “discuss ways to resolve issues surrounding country of origin labeling and agriculture’s contributions to meeting the administration’s sustainability and environmental goals.”
Choice boxed beef prices surged $3.23 and Select was up $3.49 on Monday, though packers moved only 71 loads of product on the day. Given strength in the wholesale beef market, strong packer margins and the rebound in futures, there is hope of higher cash cattle prices this week.
The national direct cash hog price was $1.48 lower on Monday, while the pork cutout value slipped 31 cents. Weakness in the cash and product markets could encourage traders to take some profits out of the long side of hog futures.
