Highlights
Ukraine and Russia attacks on each other early Wednesday were not as aggressive as the previous two days which allowed some barges on the Danube to be loaded with Ukrainian grain. Two days ago, the railroads to the Danube River loading terminals were destroyed. If so, there will not be many barges loaded any time soon.
Three weeks into the Russian wheat harvest, Black Sea grain guru Andrey Sizov reports only 14% of the wheat areas had been harvested as persistent rainfall the past two weeks has delayed harvest. The weather forecast is improving for Russia's southern regions. Obviously, Russia wheat exports will be delayed somewhat and maybe a big delay with smaller tonnage.
Tidbits
Argentina will have a corn peso plan which is an offer of 340 peso for 1 US $. That is not as rich as the bean peso deals of the past 10 months. The government hopes to see 2 to 3 million mt of corn to be sold by farmers so the government can collect export tax. Producers have not been selling with inflation at 100%. Corn is a much better investment than pesos.
The federal reserve is expected to raise interest rates this afternoon.
September Soybean Meal Put Program
In January of 2023, we initiated a marketing program using September soybean meal puts to demonstrate to our clients how puts work and the way we recommend puts be integrated into your marketing plan for corn, beans and wheat.
A put option gives its buyer the right, but not the obligation, to sell a futures contract at a specified price (strike price). The market value of an option is called its premium. Buying put options at higher strike prices at the same premium for each option (stair-step-up method) will capture the top of the market for you. You do not even need to think about where the top is.