On the corn front what a comeback. Monday evening the corn market opened slightly lower but later in the overnight the market really got sacked with whispers China cancelled or switched U.S. soybean cargoes to Brazil. Corn prices for February in Brazil was cheaper than the U.S. which triggered more selling. Were sure rollovers from the December contract came into play as well. We also believe China demand for U.S. corn and soybeans is real and anticipate more purchase orders. Rains are forecasted the next week in dry areas of Argentina and Brazil, but they are also contending with La Nina and the rains could end up being a false alarm. In the overnight electronic session, the March corn is currently trading at 430 ½ which is 2 cents lower. The trading range has been 434 ¾ to 430 ½.
On the ethanol front production should come in higher than last week and stocks should be down slightly. Margins have weakened. Lower U.S. dollar and higher energy prices supported both corn & ethanol. The December contract settled at 1.410 and is currently showing 1 bid at 1.380 and 0 offers posted with Open Interest at 23 contracts.
On the natural gas Front today is Last Trading Day on the December contract, not much time to liquidate or rollover if your firm has not done it already. We also have EIA Gas Storage and the Thomson Reuters weekly poll with 16 analysts participating, have estimates ranging from a withdrawal of 47bcf and an injection of 33bcf with the median decrease of 21bcf. This compares to the one-year decrease of 22bcf and the five-year average withdrawal of 41bcf. In the overnight electronic session, the January natural gas is currently trading at 2.860 which is 4 cents lower. The trading range has been 2.917 to 2.838.
On the crude oil we are looking at vaccine optimism, but certain traders believe the rally will not last because vaccines do not sell oil. But people do and demand should really pick up and be great in 2021. I am also in the school if OPEC and OPEC+ play nice we should see a rebound in demand and production. Bloomberg reported China is drawing down on inventories as domestic demand picks up and imports decline because independent refineries used up most of their import quotas. There was cause for concern when China’s inventories were running near capacity, so news of the drawdown is welcome. In the overnight electronic session, the January crude oil is currently trading at 4550 which is 39 points higher. The trading range has been 4590 to 4487. Remember we have plenty of reports jammed in today so we can celebrate tomorrow.