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Analyst expects basis to remain strong into harvest

Farmers are seeing volatile basis levels and market analyst Al Kluis says cash prices vary by location.

“Depending on where you’re farming, certainly in the areas of the western and northern Corn Belt where there’s some real concerns about crop size, I think the basis is at good levels and likely to stay good.”

Kluis is managing director of Twin Cities-based Kluis Commodity Advisors.

He tells Brownfield there might be a dip once harvest gets going up.

“But overall, we’re in a region where with smaller yields we’re likely to see very tight supplies. Farmers have built a lot of storage over the last few years, they’re coming in on empty, so all that to me is positive for basis.”

Karl Setzer with AgriVisor says basis in the Eastern Corn Belt is actually about 10 cents stronger than the Western Belt right now, but he’s also seeing processor bids become more erratic because of mixed processing margins.