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Economist: quiet December WASDE not a surprise despite data gaps

An ag economist suggests the absence of significant changes in the USDA’s latest supply and demand estimates is to be expected.

Dr. Megan Roberts is with Compeer Financial.

“There isn’t a lot that jumps out because it was a pretty subdued report in terms of changes. That’s not atypical for the December report.”

But Roberts tells Brownfield she thought some surprises were possible.

“Because we do have the missing report from October and we’re just getting back up to speed with governmental data releases post-governmental shutdown.”

Roberts says the one big takeaway from Tuesday’s report was corn exports.

“There was a jump up of 125 million bushels in corn exports for the U.S., and right now at least that’s having some positive market reaction.”

She says September to December corn export shipments are tracking at the highest levels since 2007.

Roberts made these comments during an upcoming Compeer Economic Minute podcast, a content partnership between Brownfield and Compeer Financial.