Highlights
Andy sent us river depth information from the Soy Transportation Coalition.
"For each foot of draft reduction on the river, an individual barge is loaded with 7,000 fewer bushels (200 tons) of soybeans. In certain areas of the river, we are seeing several feet of draft restrictions due to low water. In addition, the lack of water will narrow the shipping channel, which limits the number of barges that can be attached together to form one single flotilla or tow. Depending on the location in the river, tow sizes are being reduced from 10-15% at minimum and upwards of 30-40%. What makes barge transportation so economical is the ability to load individual barges with significant volumes of freight while attaching many barges together to form a flotilla or tow. Low water conditions on the river attack both of these features."
Thanks, Andy! Fortunately, domestic demand for soybeans is very strong this month.
Yesterday morning, the USDA announced the sale of 359,500 mts of old crop corn to Mexico.
November soybean options expire this Friday.
Soybean basis across the Corn Belt continues to firm as the processors try to get some beans bought for the nearby crush. Merchandisers are saying too many farmers are busy with corn harvest and not hauling beans. Yea, no doubt, but a lot of people have already sold all the beans they are going to sell until bean futures add another 50¢.