Grain Division Report

New Salem is handling corn! If you have not noticed, New Salem has a daily posted bid for corn… check it out. We bought some corn already, will be loading a train soon, and we look forward to handling more! The corn market is dominated by interior demand and exports are not likely to see any life until maybe sometime in first quarter of 2023. Without an active, consistent corn export market it has been difficult to maintain space.

Soybean exports are strong off the west coast. There was also export demand for soybeans in the Gulf, but with the low water levels on the Mississippi River causing barge tow and draft sizes to be limited, most of that business got shifted to the PNW. The shift created additional PNW soybean demand, but this displaced demand will move back to the Gulf as rains start to add run off to Mississippi River system. The U.S. soybean export program will start to wrap up in late December into January as the new crop Brazilian soybeans become available to the world market. Please make plans for marketing soybeans accordingly. If you have soybeans to move, please let us know so we can lock in a home and freight.

Minneapolis Spring Wheat futures are trading in a range of $9.06 on the bottom side to $10.00 on the top side. There were a couple of break out days to about $10.15 when Russia was stalling ships leaving Ukrainian ports with inspections taking 10-15 days. This little break out lasted as long as it took for the rhetoric and headlines to change. Export demand for spring wheat is okay but it is slowing down to close out the year. Domestic demand remains constant. However, railroads are struggling to place cars for domestic moves, and are running about 3.5 weeks late.

Keep an eye on the opportunities with new crop HTA’s. At the time of this writing, Minneapolis December 2023 is at $9.34; December 2023 corn $6.14; November 2023 soybeans $13.86.