4/15/2021

The nearby corn contract broke through the 600 level for the first time since 2013 during overnight trade with May corn setting a new contract high of 601'4.  With the bean export program all but completely done for the marketing year, corn has put itself in the driver's seat.  Weekly export sales for old crop were a little disappointing with corn coming in below estimates at 328k tonnes and soybeans mid-range of estimates at 91k tonnes.  New crop sales were within their targets at 53k tonnes of corn and 266k tonnes of beans.  NOPA crush numbers for March were released today with bushels crushed at 177.984 million, 1.195 mln bu short of the analyst average of 179.179 mln bu.  Despite some lackluster fundamentals to work with, beans finish 8 higher on the day in firm fashion.  The weather in both North and South America looks to be supportive in the short term, with the dry weather in Brazil threatening the safrinha corn crop and a cooler-than-average April across the US corn belt holding the potential to keep planting pace at a crawl.  The outlook on the cash markets shows basis will continue to strengthen, with some overages for summer corn deliveries already being shown.  This also has corn starting to move in some strange directions across the country.