Daily Ag Direction 3/17/25
Good Morning!
Green across the screen to celebrate St. Patrick’s day. Dust storms and continuing dry weather across the south builds in some concerns for traders. Wheat shorts are about 100k contracts more short than they were a year ago. If funds come in and cover their short positions then we could see some fireworks in the wheat market. Obviously things can derail that like tariff talks and other unknowns, but producers can watch this market closely for opportunities in the coming months. The funds haven’t been this short in at least the last 5 years. It is being reported that Iran bought 120k mt of Russian wheat. COT reported heavy fund selling in corn on the week down 74.4k contracts from the week prior. Ukraine Ag Ministry reporting cumulative exports totaling 31.02 mmt from July 1 through March 17 with corn accounting for 15.84 mmt. Beans down now after holding small gains in the morning. Meal board prices are having difficulty breaking the 200-day ma going back to May of last year due to the Argentine crop problem. The livestock sector doesn’t seem to mind that the Chinese are not responding to US gov’t renewal licenses for pork/beef exports.
May KC Wheat +19.0 @ $6.05
July 25 KC Wheat +18.4 @ $6.17
May Corn +0.0 @ $4.59
Dec 25 Corn +2.6 @ $4.54
May Beans -1.0 @ $10.15
Nov 25 Beans +1.6 @ $10.20
Apr Feeders +2.150 @ $283.350
Apr Live +0.975 @ $200.100
Please reach out to your CEA Risk Management Advisor if you have any questions. Have a great day!
-Trent
