Markets are trading with small gains this morning with corn recovering yesterday’s losses while the beans and wheat add to the gains they saw to start the week.

For the week ending 12/24, managed funds were net buyers of 1.5k corn to push the net long to 161k, net buyers of 8k beans to reduce the net short to 68k, and net sellers of 8k wheat to push the net short to 95k. The buying in corn was quite a bit less than expected while buying in beans was quite a bit more than expected. Wheat positions were in line with expectations.

Managed funds on Monday were estimated as net sellers of 2k corn to reduce the net long to 167k, net buyers of 2k beans to reduce the net short to 60k, and net buyers of 1k wheat to reduce the net short to 88k.

China said they approved five more gene-editing crop varieties and 12 types of GM soybean, corn, and cotton, expanding approvals to boost high-yield crops and ensure food security.

Syria’s new foreign minister said they hoped for strategic partnerships with Ukraine, opening the door for a new destination for Ukraine grain exports.

Corn posted a bearish reversal on Monday with prices hitting new recent highs but reversing from there to finish lower while posting an outside day. The uptrend is still in place, but the market is overbought with potential for more weakness in the near term. Support is 4.40 and resistance 4.60.

Beans traded an outside day on Monday with the market gapping higher on Sunday night, selling off to take out Friday’s low, but then recovering to finish the day with small gains. The market is overbought with potential for a bigger pullback within the range as that corrects. March support is 9.80 and resistance 10.00.

Corn hit new highs to start the week, but the market was unable to sustain the rally with prices reversing to close with a small loss. The outlook for a range-bound trade is still in place with a lot of producer owned grain expected to move after the start of the year if prices remain in the 4.50-4.60 area. Producers can look at option structures (3-ways, min/max) to protect the price of unsold grain.

Beans were able to start the week with small gains as the dryness in Argentina is persisting, but prices finished well-below their intraday highs as the beans pulled back along with the corn. Managed funds are sitting on a historically large net short to provide a buyer under the market, but the outlook for growing global supplies on the back of a record Brazil crop is still in place. Producers should look at puts to protect unsold bushels.

Corn up 2-3

Beans up 3-5

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