Grain > Commentary > 12-18-2023

12/18/2023

Dec 18, 2023

Soybeans continue to improve, keeping intact a short-term trend of day-to-day higher lows on the chart. The corn market continued on in uneventful trade. We are still waiting for something spark and create some excitement. After a short rally to begin December, it looks like we may once again test out the fresh lows set in November. Weekly export inspections were encouraging with corn and soybeans both reported at the top-end of expectations with 947k tonnes and 1.412 mln tonnes respectively. That was a 3-week high for soybeans and a nice recovery towards average pace after some poor showings. Corn inspections were above average for the week. Shipment pace for corn has improved to 14 million bushels behind the USDA forecast versus 23 million bushels behind last week. Soybeans inspection pace slipped this week, from 7 million bushels short last week to 11 million bushels short this week.

Watching the forecasts and what precipitation materializes in South America as the crop nears the finishing phase.

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