News

USDA reports in the rearview, weather now steers grain markets

Weather is expected to be the primary market driver for grain prices now that USDA has released planted acreage and quarterly grain stocks updates.

Al Kluis with Kluis Commodity Advisors says the market already factored in this week’s heat dome.

“The heat kind of dissipates after the 4th of July, so that’s much different than what it was say last Friday. So that’s one of the reasons we saw on Monday the grain markets down so hard.”

Compeer Financial ag economist Megan Roberts tells Brownfield the transition into a weather market began more than a month ago.

“Just in the absence of some other news, and we’ve seen the deterioration of some prices really since mid-May, end of May, all the way now through into the end of June moving into July.”

She says national crop condition ratings reflect a strong start to the growing season for many corn and soybean farmers.

“And that can cause some bearishness to the market. And then there are these exceptions in places like Illinois that are experiencing the uncertainty and volatile nature of mother nature.”

Kluis says while the U.S. is looking at a very good crop, there are production problems in Europe, India, and China that could be supportive to domestic prices.

Al Kluis interview:

Megan Roberts interview: