Commodity Market Update August 14, 2018
Grains
Last Friday the USDA released the August 2018 monthly WASDE (World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates) report. The data in the WASDE report on crops Yield (in Bushels per Acre) and crops Ending Stocks (in Billions of Bushels) all came in higher than Reuters estimates of the numbers. The data release caused prices to fall significantly.
Specifically, Reuters estimated corn yield for 2018 to be 176.2 bushels/acre, whereas WASDE reported 178.4 bushels/acre, a new record (Chart 1, year 2018). Reuters estimated corn ending stocks at 1.636 billion bushels, while WASDE reported 1.684 billion bushels (Chart 2, year 2018).
Chart 1
Chart 2
Soybeans yield was estimated by Reuters to be 49.6 bushels/acre, whereas the WASDE reported number was 51.6 bushels/acre (Chart 3, year 2018). Reuters estimated soybeans ending stocks at 0.638 billion bushels, while the WASDE reported number was 0.785 billion bushels (Chart 4, year 2018).
Chart 3
Chart 4
The WASDE report was released at 11:00 am Friday. Prices dropped significantly at that time (see the price candlestick charts, Charts 5 and 6). Prices continued to trade lower through the rest of the trading day. September Corn settled at $3.5775 per bushel, down 11.5 cents (-3.2% ) for the day (Chart 5). September Soybeans settled at $8.5075 per bushel, down 42.25 cents (-5.0%) for the day (Chart 6).
Chart 5
Chart 6
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