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Grain Market Update – January

Aurora Cooperative 1 year ago

The January WASDE provided a few fireworks last week. 2022 harvested acres dropped from 80.8 million acres to 79.2 but yield went up 1 bushel per acre to 173.3. This resulted in a nice spike in corn futures back to the 6.75 range. Old crop futures have now traded in the 6.50-7.00 range for all but 5 days since 8/23/2022. Corn is starting to move from the bins with the recent stretch of clear weather and producers starting to look ahead at planting season. New crop corn is currently trading just below 6.00, about 30 cents off its 6-month high. Speaking of new crop, Aurora Cooperative will be rolling out our High of the Day Program in the next couple of months. This is a fantastic way to start looking at the 2023 crop year and makes some sales during the historically best times to sell. The product sells the high of DEC23 futures daily and averages those sales to become a DEC23 HTA. Selling the high during volatile days can really pay off!  

The WASDE for soybeans was friendly as well. Both acres and yield came down from previous projections resulting in a 30+ cent move last Thursday. New crop beans traded above 14.00 futures last month triggering a sizable number of orders to fill. Nov23 futures got as high 14.27 but have since pulled back below 14 and we are currently trading around 13.90.  

Working orders to sell both corn and beans (old and new) continues to pay off. The order is always watching the market even when you are not. In choppy rangebound markets its nice to be making sales at the levels you set.  

Sam Johnson

Grain Hedge Desk