Friday March 27, 2020

Wheat and beans recovering some of their losses from yesterday this morning
Trade continues to watch the Black sea region in their evolving story of export restrictions – so far they have said they will limit exports but not below the average historical shipping quantity
Soys and corn watching a similar story in South America waiting to see what action they will take at the ports as a react to COVID 19
- An Argentine port union has asked the government to suspend shipments for the next 15 days in response to COVID – this would come at a crucial time for soybean exports
International Grains Council lowered their estimates for global soybean production in 2019/20 largely due to a decrease in both Argentine and Brazilian crop – coming as somewhat of a surprise considering the USDA raised their estimates in their last report for both countries
Reuters news has identified almost 20 U.S. ethanol plants that are idling or shutting down production – Renewable Fuels Standard believes total production capacity could fall by 20% by the end of March – a loss of over 3 billion gallons
However a potential bright spot in the ethanol story: China reportedly will purchase U.S. ethanol in 2020 as part of the phase one trade deal
The corona virus has been weakening the worlds weather forecast coming into a critical time for farmers
- Meteorologists rely on information gathered from commercial planes – with the world essentially grounded they are losing access to valuable information on weather patterns across the world