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Good Morning farm country. Davis Michaelsen here with your morning update for Monday, May 24. From Pro Farmer’s First Thing Today, these are some of the stories we are watching this morning:
Corn futures gapped lower on the open and are trading 10 to 14 cents lower on a good start to the U.S. growing season and welcome rains for Brazil’s safrinha corn crop. Soybean futures are posting losses of 7 to 14 cents, extending the market’s week-plus downtrend. SRW wheat is down 16 to 17 cents, HRW wheat is 14 cents lower and spring wheat is down 8 to 13 cents. The U.S. dollar index is marginally lower, while crude oil futures are moderately higher.
Rains were widespread across safrinha corn producing areas of Brazil over the weekend, providing welcome relief to dry conditions. The moisture comes too late for much of the crop, but some later planted fields will benefit.
Rain and snow fell in eastern Canada’s prairies on Friday, improving soil moisture for central Alberta, southern and eastern Saskatchewan and Manitoba, according to World Weather. It reports dry conditions linger from east-central Alberta through west-central and northwestern Saskatchewan, but rain is expected for those areas early this week.
The Senate is in session this week and for the House it is “House Committee Work Week” with no House floor votes on tap until June 14. Negotiations continue on a bipartisan infrastructure package, with President Joe Biden scaling back his original $2.25 trillion proposal to $1.7 trillion. Republicans still have not officially indicated their latest offer. But significant hurdles remain.
Top Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee announced Saturday they’d reached agreement on the surface transportation bill, which would provide $303.5 billion from the Highway Trust Fund over five years for highways, roads and bridges. That is more than 34% larger than the last reauthorization in 2015.
China is tightening its grip on the global commodities supply chains behind electric-vehicle production. The Wall Street Journal reports that Beijing has brought dozens of manganese processors together under a state-backed “manganese innovation alliance” that aims to coordinate planning and production. Industry experts say the plan is akin to a production cartel.
Enbridge Energy’s Line 5 pipeline transports more than half a million barrels a day of oil and natural gas liquids through Canada and the Great Lakes region. Late last year Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer moved to revoke and terminate an easement that lets the pipeline operate for 4.5 miles across the Straits of Mackinac. She’s seeking a state court injunction to force Enbridge to shut down Line 5 and “permanently decommission” the pipeline.
Choice and select boxed beef values climbed on Friday, but movement slowed. Last week’s kill climbed a welcome 4.5%, with the aggressive product market rally signaling the need for more production.
The pork cutout value shot another $1.64 higher on Friday, with all cuts except bellies climbing. Pork production edged 0.4% lower last week, while slaughter was little changed week-over-week. Today, USDA’s monthly Cold Storage Report will provide a read on demand.
