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Funds turn bearish on corn

Money managers—commodity traders looking at the rate of return—have seesawed back to bearish on corn.

Don Roose, president of U.S. Commodities, says the funds were record-short in June.

“Then we got into the weather issues, and the (money managers) gradually got out of their short position and went long the market.  As it was moving up, they kept buying positions.”

He tells Brownfield money managers then spent the next six weeks getting out of their long positions, and are now back on the short side.

Roose says 2017 has not been kind to funds trading the grain market.

“They had a big crop coming from South America.  Then (the U.S.) turned into a smaller crop with the issues we had, highlighted with the drought media talk from the Dakotas and other areas.  So they got out of their short positions (and) went long.  Now as they see the (U.S.) crop stabilizing and maybe even getting bigger, they’ve decided to press the market seasonally.”

Roose argues the funds haven’t been correct on the direction of the market all year, suggesting the outlook might not be that bearish.