With all the gyrations this week, it has been challenging to keep track of who has been scoring the most runs, but as it stands right now, bulls are in the lead. If we closed right now, for the week, July corn would have gained 18-cents and December 34-cents. July beans are trading 38-cents higher, November beans are up 50-cents. July wheat in Chicago is up 20-cents, KC up 18-cents, and Minneapolis is up 63-cents. Not bad for four days of work, but of course, we still have a few hours before we call it a wrap. Without a doubt, the weather has become the dominant market mover, so you may as well buckle in as the next thirty days will undoubtedly be a bumpy ride.
Even sans the massive Chinese purchasing, corn sales were not all that bad last week. For the current crop year, we sold 531,100 MT or 20.9 million bushels. Japan was the best purchaser with 179.5k MT, followed by China at 158.5k and then South Korea in for 138k. Sales for the 2021/22 crop year were a touch less at 439,500 MT or 17.3 million. Here, unknown destinations took the top spot with 202.4k MT, followed by Japan for 150.8k and Mexico buying 64.3k. With the crop year winding down rapidly, it was not surprising to see a negative figure for wheat. We recorded a negative 33,300 MT. Unfortunately, new crop sales were not terribly inspiring either at 398,300 MT or 14.6 million bushels. The Philippines were the top buyer with 105.5k MT, followed by Japan, taking 65.7k, and then Mexico in for 52.6k. Bean sales were pretty uninspired all around, but at least the old crop was not in negative territory. For 2020/21, we sold 17,800 MT or 654,000 bushels. For the 2021/22 season, sales came up to just 180,300 MT or 6.6 million bushels. Unknown destination accounted for the majority of these with 132k MT, followed by Mexico buying 34k and then China in for 10k. Meat sales slipped pretty hard this week, but that is partially due to the strong sales last week. Nevertheless, beef sales were down 55% at 12,600 MT, and pork sales were 47% lower at 24,300 MT. China was a buyer of 4,800 MT of pork.
In their weekly update, AgriMer reports generally good-looking crops in France. The corn rating was unchanged at 91% good/excellent. Spring barley slipped 1% to 84% good/exec. Winter barely rated 76% good/exe., down 1%, Durum wheat was unchanged at 68% good/exe., and soft wheat 80% good/exe., also unchanged.
I will go into more detail in the weekly letter, but May jobs number were released this morning, and while they were a solid improvement over April, still fell below expectation. The economy created 559,000 positions for the month, compared with expectations of 650,000, and the unemployment rate slipped down to 5.8%. Equity markets are a bit higher this morning, and for the week as it stands, the S&P 500 is virtually unchanged.
