Review of Agriculture Commodity Prices - Nov 2023

Review of Agriculture Commodity Prices – November 2023
 

Corn

The cash price of corn as measured by the National Corn Cash price was down by 2.24% in the month of November and is down by 35% since October 31, 2022.

The largest items in the corn market in November were;

• The second crop of corn in South America is expected to be impacted by weather issues this year.

Soybeans

The cash price of soybeans as measured by the National Soybean Cash price was up by 3.74% in the month of November and is down by 11% since October 31, 2022.

The largest items in the soybean market in November were;

• Brazilian farmers are expected to reap 10 million tons less soybeans than initially forecast, after a drought slammed Mato Grosso state farmers who planted their crop early, Alexandre Mendonça de Barros, partner at MB Agro consultancy, said on November 28^th.[1]
• Brazil's 2023/24 soybean planting had reached 74% of the expected area as of Thursday, agribusiness consultancy AgRural said on Monday, making it the slowest progress for the period in eight years as the country grapples with bad weather.[2]
• Argentina's grains trade is largely "paralyzed" by a lack of soybeans due to drought and farmers holding onto produce, anticipating a devaluation of the peso under President-elect Javier Milei, the head of the main export chamber told Reuters.[3]
• Extremely dry weather is forcing farmers to give up on soy to plant cotton or another crop in Brazil's top farm state Mato Grosso, cotton lobby groups and growers said.[4]
• Weekly U.S. soybean export sales last week of more than 3.9 million metric tons marked the highest combined crop year sales total since 2012, after a surge in Chinese buying, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) data on Thursday showed.[5]

Wheat

The cash price of wheat as measured by the Wheat cash price was up 7.13% in the month of November and is down by 26% since October 31, 2022.

The largest items in the wheat market in November were;

• Dry weather in the growing season has reduced Australia's wheat output this year, but most of the crop is with higher protein content and supplies of lower quality grains for animal feed are limited,[6]
• FranceAgriMer on Wednesday raised its forecast for French soft wheat exports outside the EU in 2023/24, but also lifted its season-end stocks estimate to a six year high on lower forecasts for intra-EU shipments and domestic livestock feed demand.[7]
• Heavy rainfall in France over the past two weeks has brought grain sowing virtually to a standstill in the European Union's largest grain grower and lower yields are to be expected in some regions, technical institute Arvalis said on Tuesday. Concerns about prospects for the 2024 French harvest have contributed to a rise in European wheat prices this month.[8]
• The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Monday rated 50% of the U.S. winter wheat crop in goodto-excellent condition, up three percentage points from the previous week and the highest for this time of year since 2019 as soil moisture improved in the Plains following a three-year drought.[9]