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Good Morning farm country. Davis Michaelsen here with your morning update for Wednesday, June 2. From Pro Farmer’s First Thing Today, these are some of the stories we are watching this morning:
Corn futures are fractionally to 3 cents higher after seeing two-sided trade overnight. Soybeans are up 7 to 12 cents, with new-crop leading to the upside amid followthrough buying. Spring wheat futures are 14 to 19 cents higher; winter wheat futures are generally up 4 to 6 cents. The U.S. dollar index is higher, as are crude oil futures. Crude shot to its highest level since October 2018 yesterday. This came as OPEC said it would gradually ramp up its collective oil production and predicted a rise in global oil demand in coming months.
Following are highlights from USDA’s crop progress and condition update for the week ending May 30.
· Corn: 95% planted, 81% emerged, 76% “good” to “excellent” (G/E)
· Soybeans: 84% planted, 62% emerged
· Spring wheat: 97% planted, 80% emerged, 43% “good” to “excellent”
· Winter wheat: 79% headed, 48% rated G/E
· Cotton: 64% planted, 6% squaring, 44% G/E
Last night, JBS SA issued a statement saying it had made “significant progress in resolving the cyberattack” and the “vast majority” of its shuttered beef, pork, poultry and prepared food plants will be operational today.
Arlan Suderman, chief commodities economist for StoneX Group, slashed his forecast for Brazil’s total corn crop 89.68 MMT, a dramatic drop from May when StoneX projected the crop at 100.25 MMT.
As rumored, the ethanol producer POET announced Tuesday it had acquired Flint Hills Resources’ entire ethanol business. Flint Hills is a refining and petrochemical company and had been the U.S.’s fifth largest ethanol producer.
President Biden will meet with Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) at 1:45 p.m. CT today to continue negotiations over a jobs and infrastructure package. The planned meeting comes as Democrats are striking a more urgent tone on negotiations.
China’s Economic Tsar Liu He held a virtual meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen this morning, days after Liu’s first conversation on trade issues with U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, in a sign observers said indicated the need for economic policy coordination between the world’s two largest economies.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is calling for wealthy nations to contribute $50 billion to buy vaccine doses for developing nations. WHO leaders say that sum would be enough to vaccinate 60% of the world’s population within the next year, allowing for $9 trillion in new economic growth by 2025.
Yesterday’s corn market surge weighed on cattle complex paired with a ransomware attack on JBS that brought slaughter and fabrications to a halt and dropped Monday’s kill. Last week, cash trade occurred at an average price of $119.64, down 8 cents from the week prior.
The ransomware attack also interrupted hog slaughter which fell 95,000 head from the week prior. But despite the interruptions and uncertainty, lean hog futures extended their rally.
