Corn and soybean futures rallied strongly on Friday on the heels of bullish USDA reports. Wheat was mixed on the day,
Soybean futures jumped after the USDA lowered its average US yield, production and ending stocks estimates from last month, all below trade expectations. Production fell 95 million bu to 4.366 billion bu, while ending stocks dropped 90 million to 380 million, 77 million below the average trade guess. Dec. 1 stocks, at 3.099 billion bu, were also below trade ideas. On the other hand, today’s USDA weekly export sales report showed just bookings of US beans for the week ended Jan 2 at 288,671 tonnes, below the low end of market expectations. March beans jumped 26 ¼ cents to $10.25 ¼, and November added 17 ¼ cents to $10.31
Yield, production, and ending stocks estimates were likewise revised lower from December for corn. The average yield was slashed 3.8 bu/acre from last month to 179.3 bu, with production down 276 million bu to 14.867 billion and ending stocks down 198 million bu to 1.54 billion. Weekly export sales showed bookings of US corn at 444,950 tonnes, below the low end of trade ideas.
For wheat, the updated monthly supply-demand numbers for the US and globally were mostly in line with trade guesses. The winter wheat and canola seedings report pegged winter wheat planted area for harvest in 2025 at 34.115 million acres, up 725,000 or 2% from a year ago and a bit higher than expectations. Weekly export sales of just111,309 tonnes were another marketing year low and below expectations. March Chicago wheat slipped 3 ¼ cents to $5.30 ¾, March Kansas City was up 1 ½ cents at $5.51 ¾, and March Minneapolis inched up ¾ of a cent to $5.84 ¼.
