CME: Grain Markets Wait for January Reports
US - Cheese prices were offered lower again, while butter held unchanged. Milk futures were mixed, writes Alan Levitt.
11 January 2012
1 minute read
On the heels of the driest year on record, West Texas has been hit with massive snowfall in the
last two weeks.
Some counties have received nearly 20” of snow this season, more than triple
the snowfall in Buffalo and double what has fallen on Minneapolis. In fact, winter still hasn’t
really set in in the Midwest, where temperatures are 20-30° above normal and snowcover is
almost completely absent.
Still, nearly a third of Texas remains in exceptional drought, the most extreme category,
according to USDA’s Drought Monitor.
Traders also are keeping an eye on weather conditions leading up to Thursday’s “Crop
Production,” “Grain Stocks,” and “World Agricultural Supply & Demand Estimates” reports.
Corn rallied in mid-December on news of severe drought in Argentina (and Brazil) at the onset
of the growing season. MAR corn settled at $6.52/bushel today, up 74¢ since 15 December. Trade sentiment is for Thursday’s reports to show lower US corn
stocks, lower harvest estimates, increased exports (due to shortfalls from Argentina) and lower carry-out holdings.
The January reports have been major market movers in recent years. Corn futures have moved limit-up or limit-down the day the reports are released five
years in a row, notes the Wall Street Journal
Further Reading
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