News

USDA report a dud

An extension grain marketing economist says for all the buildup caused by the government shutdown, the latest USDA supply and demand numbers landed with a thud.

Ed Usset with the University of Minnesota tells Brownfield the release of two months of information was rather anticlimactic.

“We were all worked up over apparently nothing. The changes in terms of yield, carryout, and production were modest in all corners.”

Despite a lack of bullish news, he points out old and new crop corn and soybean prices are well off contract lows.

“No Earth-shattering changes in the fundamentals, we’re still in the midst of a trade war, and we’ve got corn and soybean prices a good 10 percent off their harvest lows. I think it’s time for a person to take a good, hard look at those rallies.”

Soybeans settled slightly higher in Chicago Friday, corn was down around two cents, and wheat closed as much as four cents higher.