8 Weeks up, 8 days down

It took about 8 weeks for May and December corn contracts to gain 40 cents per bushel and 8 days to give back half of that gain. Both contracts have stabilized and are oversold. With USDA’s annual planting intentions and quarterly stocks report expected on March 30th, I do not look for any market strength until after those reports have been digested. Support in the May contract is 373 and 395 in the December contract. No new sales recommendations at this time.

A similar collapse was experienced in the soybean contracts but they only experienced a 40% loss of the same eight week gain. Solid support in the May soybean contract comes in at 1020 and 1016 in the November contract. Currently, the trade believes that US soybean planting intentions will come in at 91.5 to 92 million acres. The next move in the market will be dictated by the number reported to us on March 20th by USDA. Sales are warranted to protect against a surprise bu USDA.

The wheat contracts suffered the most on the recent pullback losing 70% of the eight week gain from the December low to the March high. Even Kansas City Hard Red Wheat, where there is genuine concern about the crop, lost 70% of its late winter gains. The next opportunity for wheat sales won’t come until weekly crop conditions begin (first week of April) and we must continue to find problems in the Southwest in order to support values. We currently see no problems with the eastern corn belt soft red crop. No new sales are recommended at this time.