Highlights
The main point of interest on yesterday’s S&D was what would the USDA do with corn and bean yields. The market expected both to be reduced slightly. USDA did lower bean yields one-tenth of a bushel, as expected, but increased corn yields two-tenths of a bushel while the market expected a two-tenths of a bushel reduction.
USDA increased corn demand by 73 million bushels, bringing the total increase in corn demand since 1 November to 813 million bushels! Throw in that, even with the 2024 corn crop yielding 6 more bushels per acre than any crop ever before, the U.S. 2024 corn crop will still be 138 million bushels less than the 2023 crop! The U.S. new crop corn carryout is now less than 2 billion bushels, a number not seen on new crop corn since January 2023, 21 months ago.