It's finally a beautiful evening to plant #corn in western Illinois. This is the last of four Illinois #CropWatch22 fields to be planted, and the 8th of 22 total.
It was a decent night to plant #corn in Minnesota Saturday night, though rain was forecast Sunday, so the #CropWatch22 corn was finished 4:30 am Sunday morning. The South Dakota corn also went late into the night Sat-Sun, finishing at 2 am. Needing to beat some weather.
Not the common early sight for #CropWatch22 this year, but the SE Illinois fields, both planted April 23, have emerged. This was the earlier stuff the producer planted this season - his planting is still in progress.
#CropWatch22 fields planted as of Monday: #corn in Kansas, W and SE IL, SD, MN. #Soybeans: both Illinois, Indiana. Kansas beans planned for Tuesday.
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🇺🇸USA, 🇧🇷#Brazil, 🇦🇷#Argentina & 🇺🇦#Ukraine account for 85% of the world's corn exports. But who ships where?
🇺🇸Let's start in top exporter USA. China, Mexico & Japan were the destinations for 69% of all shipments last year.
🇺🇸USA only started shipping heavily to #China again in the last two years, so here is the 3-year average prior to that. Mexico, Japan & South Korea accounted for 58%.
🇧🇷Two-thirds of shipments out of No. 2 #corn exporter #Brazil end up in these seven countries: Iran, Japan, Egypt, Vietnam, Spain, South Korea & Taiwan. That has been true the past 3 years despite annual export volumes varying drastically based on the harvest outcomes.
#China's COVID lockdowns have worsened global supply chain woes. One-fifth of the world's container ship fleet is estimated to be stuck in port congestion (not just in China), and the number of ships awaiting berth at Shanghai are up 34% from last month.
Here's a look at Shanghai. Zooming in on that one clump of vessels shows they are mostly stationary (at anchor) waiting for their turn. Shipping something from a warehouse in #China to one in the USA now takes 74 days longer than usual.
In March, the average global delay of a ship's arrival was 7.26 days. Anything over 4.5 days is very rare. These stats and more are from this Reuters article from this week: reuters.com/business/snarl…
U.S. #drought conditions this week versus the previous 3 years. Dryness expanded considerably in Nebraska this past week, but other Corn Belt areas are slightly improving. More than half of North Dakota is now drought-free for the first time since Aug. 4, 2020.
Here's the same week in the previous four years just for fun. The core Corn Belt states have not often started spring planting in widespread drought conditions. The HRW wheat crop in the S. Plains was heavily affected by drought in 2015 and 2018.
Now versus a month ago. Drought has expanded in the Plains (HRW wheat country, Nebraska, somewhat SD), but it has retreated in North Dakota and parts of the Midwest. Planting into dry soils is not the problem (actually it helps), but the fear is continuation of the dryness.
Soils are a bit too cold across Iowa right now for any widespread #corn planting. Soil temps as of Sunday were hovering around 40F, but 50F and above is most preferable to plant corn. Air temps will be chilly most of this week, but warmer weather is forecast this weekend.
Here's going back 4 years on the same date:
I also want to include 2017 because it was among Iowa's warmest for the date. 2018 was notoriously cold and Iowa's corn planting lagged normal most of the spring. Corn planting in 2021 was ahead of average and efficient from the end of April on.
The world grew a record wheat crop in 2021/22, but don’t let that deceive you when it comes to actual availability.
You must look at the projected year-end stocks and most critically, the expected demand relative to those stocks, also record high.
Global #wheat stocks-to-use in 2021/22 of 28.5% would be a six-year low. Excluding #China, that ratio falls to 16.6%, a 14-year low.
But most of the actual available global supplies lie in the major exporters. Stocks-to-use in those countries of 14% is close to all-time lows.
Why do we exclude #China? It will hold 51% of the world’s #wheat by mid-year. None of that wheat is available to the global market as it is stockpiled for food security.
Five straight bumper crops will allow #India’s exports to hit records this year. It too has gov't reserves.
U.S. quarterly stocks won't be the main event Thursday, but supplies are tighter than usual so they can't be forgotten. Trade estimates would be: #Corn: +2.4% YOY, -5.7% on 5yr avg #Soybeans: +22% YOY, -8.5% on 5yr avg #Wheat: -20% YOY, -30% on 5yr avg, 13yr low for date
Don't be fooled by +22% YOY for #soybeans when it comes to Sept. 1 possibilities. 2nd half use in 20/21 was a 6yr low and 18% below the 5yr avg. Exports were extremely light for the period after the big effort in H1, and the remaining 21/22 book is much bigger than usual.
When I say quarterly stocks aren't the main event, what I mean is that U.S. corn and soy acreage in particular will be the two numbers the market wants to see first on Thursday. But never dismiss stocks.... they can stir up chaos anytime, anywhere.