Mark's Market Talk for February 10, 2025

A new week and the same story. Corn and beans both ended last week higher, but it wasn’t easy. Monday and Friday were give-back days and the middle of the week gave us higher prices. At the end of the week corn was up 5.5 cents and beans were 7.5 cents higher. The week started with the threat of tariffs on our neighbors, Canada and Mexico. They quickly came to the table and agreed to make some changes and now those tariffs are on hold till March. There has been a little talk but not much action from the Chinese, so some of those tariffs have been put in place. The Brazilian bean harvest is finally going better as it had fallen way behind. That has been good for us as it has delayed both the bean harvest and the second crop corn planting. Their equipment has gotten bigger just like ours so they will catch up in a hurry. Their infrastructure still leaves a lot to be desired, but they are slowly improving that also. The funds are very long the corn market and for prices to hold they need to continue to defend their position. If they suddenly start to bail, we may fall back some. Their buying spree propelled us higher, and should they start to liquidate, we will have to ride it back down. Beans are getting pressure from the SA harvest and the fact that US beans are higher than the world market. Right now, it appears South America is not challenging the US on who can raise beans the cheapest, but who is willing to lose the most money in pricing their beans.