Weekly Cash Comments

Cash grain basis continued to be at a stalemate this week as basis levels around the country for corn and soybeans were generally unchanged.

In corn, futures prices continued to creep higher but this seemed to have little impact on basis levels. Although, Western Cornbelt basis seemed to have a bit more pressure with a few cent losses on basis being reported at some buyers. Farmers in the Western Cornbelt had a better year on average versus Eastern Cornbelt which should keep basis levels in the West in check for some time. Ethanol plants on average were off 1-cent a bushel this week with 3 to 7-cent losses fairly common at Western Cornbelt plants. River terminals were flat for the week.

For soybeans, river terminals were also unchanged for the week as were soy crushing facilities. As in the case of corn, there was a bit of weakness in soy crushing plants in the Western Cornbelt with losses of 2 cents fairly common at key buyers.

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

—Kevin McNew