Grain Markets Closed Overnight; Will Reopen This Morning; Export Sales Mixed For Corn, Wheat

(Agriculture.com) –  CHICAGO BOARD OF TRADE CLOSED OVERNIGHT FOR NEW YEAR’S HOLIDAY

Overnight trading was closed on the Chicago Board of Trade due to the New Year’s Day holiday. Trading will resume at 8:30 a.m. local time.

EXPORT SALES MIXED FOR CORN, WHEAT, DROP SHARPLY WEEK TO WEEK FOR SOYBEANS

Export sales in the week that ended on December 21 were mixed for corn and wheat but well lower week to week for soybeans, the USDA said in a report that was delayed due to the holidays.

Exporters sold 1.25 million metric tons of corn, down 20% from the prior week but up 28% from the previous four-week average, the USDA said. An unknown buyer stepped in and took 330,300 metric tons, while Mexico was in for 316,600 tons, and Japan bought 175,600 tons of U.S. corn. Colombia purchased 108,900 tons and Spain bought 66,000 tons.

Wheat sales totaled 478,400 metric tons for delivery in the marketing year that ends on May 31. That’s down 40% weekly but up 1% from the prior average, according to the government.

Morocco was the biggest buyer at 130,000 tons, Mexico bought 115,700 tons, Nigeria purchased 100,500 tons, South Korea was in for 78,700 tons, and Thailand took 51,400 tons. The total would’ve been higher, but an unidentified buyer cancelled a contract for 144,100 tons, the USDA said.

Soybean sales plunged 44% from the prior week and 37% from the four-week average to 974,700 metric tons.

China, as usual, was the biggest buyer at 928,700 tons, followed by Japan at 97,500 tons and the Netherlands at 84,200 tons, according to the government. Mexico bought 67,500 tons of U.S. soybeans and Turkey purchased 50,800 tons.

An unknown buyer cancelled a purchase of 327,500 tons, and Spain cancelled a purchase of 32,300 tons, the USD said.

MUCH OF EASTERN HALF OF U.S. SEEING WIND-CHILL WARNINGS, ADVISORIES

Almost the entire eastern half of the U.S. is in a deep freeze with wind chills in the Upper Midwest as low as -40˚F., according to the National Weather Service.

Wind-chill advisories are in effect from central Montana almost all the way to the eastern seaboard. The cold stretches from the Canadian border down into the Gulf Coast.

Parts of the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles, where hard red winter wheat plants are overwintering, are also being hit by the cold weather. Wind chills there have fallen as low as -10˚F., the NWS said in a report early Tuesday morning.

Actual temperatures in the Southern Plains are down as low as 4˚F., according to the agency. Any plants that don’t have a protective layer of snow are at risk of suffering from winterkill.