Weekly grain report

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

1/18/12: Grain futures fell on Wednesday as some of the driest areas of Argentina look like they’ll get a drink in the coming days. This is most definitely a weather market, however white wheat has been able to hold up pretty well in the face of a sinking futures market. Portland prices are now about 30 cents per bushel higher than Chicago March futures, which hasn’t happened in quite awhile.

Strong feed wheat demand combined with a second tender in a week out of Japan for 1.2 million bushels of western white wheat are likely providing support. If corn prices continue to weaken, however, some of that support will likely erode.

1/23/12: We started out Monday where we left off on Friday with the grain markets continuing to gain strength despite some rainfall in Argentina. White wheat has drawn its recent strength from a strong export pace, even if it is mostly feed wheat, and slow farmer selling. The slow farmer selling has exporters pressing to get bushels locked up ahead of and during the annual March river closure. While this feed wheat business is nice, one thing to keep in mind is that much of it is actually optional origin. Right now it’s slated to be white wheat out of the PNW for logistical purposes. However, things can change by the time the grain is supposed to actually ship. If something were to happen to change the origin to, say Australian wheat, then we’d have a whole bunch of extra white wheat sitting around that we thought we’d be rid of. Something to watch for as we move forward.