3/25/2021

Trade was lower overnight and all through the day session.  We started off this morning with some supportive news with a flash sale of 110k tonnes of corn to Japan for the 2020/21 marketing year.  Weekly net export sales were confirmation on last week's announcements of big sales to China, with corn coming in at a whopping 4.482 million tonnes sold.  Sales to China accounted for over 86% of the total corn sales for the week ending 3/18/21.  Soybean sales were on the low end of expectations at 102k tonnes.  For the 2020/21 crop year, current sale bookings stand at 98% of the total for corn forecasted by the USDA and 99% for beans.  One would think the USDA would be backing themselves into a corner if they leave their carry outs and export numbers unchanged on the April WASDE report.  Overall, another day of range trade.  Simply speaking, the market was lower today because the spec funds sold.  Demand for both corn and soybeans remains steady with China continuing to buy large volumes of commodities despite reports of ASF outbreaks.  USDA announced yesterday that it will move forward with the CFAP programs (with some revisions) after President Biden brought them to halt.