February 15

2/15 - In Jan., China booked 2.1 million metric tons (mmt) of U.S. corn for future delivery, the largest corn export deal since 1991. China could buy 15-20mmt of U.S. corn this year. In last week’s WASDE, the USDA raised 2020/21 corn exports by 50M bushels, and increased its 2020/21 corn price forecast from $4.20 to $4.30 per bushel. But that’s just a small step on the path toward higher price forecasts from the USDA over the next few months. Corn futures, which were $3.08 per bushel in Aug., jumped by 82.8% to 8-year highs of $5.63 a week ago before settling back to $5.38 on Friday (2/12). Global demand has also put upward pressure on wheat prices. The USDA raised its 2020/21 wheat price forecast from $4.85 to $5.00 per bushel. Chicago (soft red) wheat futures have soared from $4.91 to $6.36 per bushel over the past 6 months; KC hard winter wheat from $4.14 to $6.16.