Weekly Cash Comments

Grain basis was mostly muted this week as average corn and soybean basis posted fractional increases on the week.

Harvest continued to keep a lid on basis levels as last week farmers harvested another 15% of the corn and soybean crop in a 7-day period. Soybean harvest should be reaching the tail end of the season, while corn still has a few more solid weeks of cutting to go. Weather looks good for much of the Midwest, but forecasters look for Hurricane Patricia, currently off the coast of Mexico, to filter into the Upper Midwest by early next week which could stall corn harvest. The rain may not be welcome for farmers, but river depths are at low levels and are causing barge delays. Early in the week, a barge blockage north of Quincy, IL on the MS River put traffic there on hold for two days. Since being cleared, barge rates have come down precipitously in the later part of the week.

At the Gulf, export basis bids for beans were off 6 cents this week which pushed bean basis lower at river terminals by 4 cents a bushel. Conversely, basis bids for corn along the river were up nearly 6 cents a bushel. End users were mostly flat this week with both corn and soybean plants mostly unchanged on basis. Look for basis levels to start improving as we enter the later stages of harvest and farmer sales dry up on overall price weakness.

—Cody Bills