Weekly Cash Comments

Grain basis was mostly stagnant this week as average US values were unchanged from last week.

A rally in the futures market helped increase pipeline supplies this week as end users found dump lines backing up. Corn plants were down as a group this week by 1-cent a bushel with only one small plant in NE IA boosting basis by a dime, but most of the action at ethanol plants was on the downside. For soy plants they were down 0.5 cents a bushel on average. There were some modest gains in IN/OH plants but plants in the Western Corn-belt were off 5 to 10 cents in some case, helping erase much of the positive gains in the board.

For river terminals, they fell under the same pressure but had the added back draft of higher barge freight. Rates along river terminals were generally higher this week which put more pressure on basis levels. Soybeans basis at river terminals gave up nearly 4 cents a bushel while corn basis was unchanged on average.

The risk of trading futures, hedging, and speculating can be substantial. Grain Hedge is a Branch of Foremost Trading LLC (NFA ID: 0307930)

—Kevin McNew