Weekly grain report

Byron Behne watches the grain markets for the Odessa Union Warehouse.

5/2/13: The grain futures markets have chopped around for the last two days, which hasn’t done much to our white wheat price. New crop and old crop prices are now virtually identical. Corn has rallied back from the low posted after the March 28 stocks report, with the May Chicago futures contract finally trading above that day’s low, which was limit down. Corn-planting delays combined with heavy snowfall in Iowa drove the gains. The HRW tour in Kansas came back with an estimated yield of 41 bushels to the acre, which was higher than expected given drought in the west and recent freezing temperatures. This may be the highest estimate we’ll see for that production without ideal weather in May.

5/6/13: The grain markets are still choppy, as we’ve moved into full weather mode for corn planting, which seems to be driving everything else. Export news has been scarce. At the end of the week the USDA will drop another supply-and-demand report on us. Despite the planting delays, don’t expect the corn projected production to be trimmed much yet. Wheat production may also see some changes. However, losses in the HRW crop may be offset by gains in SRW.