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BQC Afternoon Comments Mar 19.2025

Macroeconomics: The Federal Reserve decided to leave rates unchanged at 4.25-4.50%. The last time the Fed cut rates was mid December 2024 when they shaved off 25 basis points. The decision today was an 11-1 vote in favor of no change. Four of the 12 fed officials said they expect zero cuts the rest of the year vs. at least one in December. Overall, the Fed believes there will be 2 more cuts this year, inflation may increase higher from here, and the US economy experience less than 2% GDP growth this year. The dollar reacted lower to the announcement today. US equity markets bounced higher including riskier assets. The next Fed meeting will conclude on May 7th with about a 20% chance of a rate 25 basis point rate cut then. Unemployment claims out tomorrow at 7:30am CST followed by existing home sales at 9:00am CST.
Ag Fundamentals: . The USDA made $10 billion in economic aid available to farmers today. Applications for the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program (ECAP) sent in today can expect to see their check in about 3 business days. Below I have the expected payments per acre according to commodity. Corn receiving the most relief of the highest producing row crops. Farmers preparing for spring planting may be influenced to change their planting intentions by these payments. Export sales expected to be slightly higher than the week prior according to estimates. Ethanol production hit a record high for this time of year at 1.105M barrels per day. Ethanol stocks lower however, down 801K barrels from last week’s reports stocks. The Grain stocks report and the prespective plantings report will be out on March 31st. 

Government Assistance Payments Per Acre by Commodity

gov support

Export Sales Estimate (week ending 3/14)

 

Sales 24/25

Est Range

Sales 25/26

Est Range

Wheat

_______

300K-700K

_______

25K-100K

Corn

_______

800K-1.7M

_______

0-100K

Beans

_______

400K-900K

_______

0-50K

Meal

_______

140K-450K

_______

0-20K

Soyoil

_______

15K-50K

_______

0-10K

 

Export Sales week ending 3/7

ADMIS Research Team

EIA Weekly Ethanol Production (For Week Ending 3/14/2025)

Ethanol Production increased to 1.105M barrels per day, marking the second highest production week of 2025 behind the last week of January. This is a record high for this week of the marketing year.

weekly ethanol production
weekly ethanol production
weekly ethanol production

EIA Weekly Ethanol Stocks

Ethanol Stocks fell below expectations to 26.6 million barrels, regardless of the increased production. Ethanol Operating Margins are still below average at around 12¢.

weekly ethanol stocks
weekly ethanol stocks
weekly ethanol stocks

EIA Weekly Implied Corn Usage

Implied Corn Usage suggests there were 111 million bushels of corn used for ethanol last week, or 15.8 million bushels per day.

corn usage
corn usage weekly comp
implied corn usage

*Corn usage estimate subtracts sorghum used for ethanol based on USDA monthly grain crush report. Bushel to gallon conversion is based on implied yield: EIA monthly ethanol production divided by net (corn and sorghum) bushels crushed from USDA month report.

CALENDAR SPREADS

Spread

Last

Chg

Full

% of FC

CK25/CN25

-7 1/4

+2   

-21   

35%

CN25/CU25

24   

+3 1/4

 

 

SK25/SN25

-13 1/4

 +1/2

-27   

49%

SN25/SQ25

3 1/2

 +1/2

 

 

SN25/SX25

11 1/2

 +1/2

 

 

MWK25/MWN25

-15 3/4

 +1/2

-20 1/2

77%

WK25/WN25

-16 1/2

 +1/2

-16   

103%

KWK25/KWN25

-14   

-1 1/4

-16 1/2

85%

COST OF CARRY

 
 

Daily Trading Limits: Corn $0.30 (expanded $0.45); Soybeans $0.85 (expanded $1.30); Minneapolis Wheat $0.60 (expanded $0.90); KC Wheat $0.40 (expanded $0.60); Chicago Wheat $0.40 (expanded $0.60)

Futures Settlements & Technicals

Symbol

Close

Chg

High

Low

Support

Resist

20-Day

50-Day

CK25

462   

+3 1/4

463   

455 3/4

457   

467   

478   

486 1/4

CN25

469 1/4

+1 1/4

471 1/4

465   

467   

477   

484 1/4

490 1/4

SK25

1008 1/4

-4 1/2

1016   

1006 1/2

1011   

1027   

1028 1/4

1043   

SN25

1021 1/2

-5   

1029 1/2

1019 3/4

1024   

1040   

1042 3/4

1056 1/4

SQ25

1018   

-5 1/2

1026 3/4

1016 1/4

1024   

1040   

1040 1/2

1052 1/2

MWK25

611 3/4

-2 1/4

618 1/2

606 1/4

611   

625   

612 1/4

613   

MWN25

627 1/2

-2 3/4

633 3/4

622 3/4

625   

640   

626   

624 3/4

WK25

563 1/2

-1 1/2

568 1/2

558   

562   

582   

570 1/2

569 3/4

WN25

580   

-2   

585 1/2

575   

580   

596   

584 3/4

581 3/4

KWK25

594 3/4

-11 1/2

605 1/2

591 3/4

599   

615   

588 3/4

585 1/4

KWN25

608 3/4

-10 1/4

618   

606 1/4

613   

626    

601 3/4

596   

SMK25

297.7

-2.20

301.9

296.8

302.00

309.50

302.10

307.50

BOK25

42.36

-0.18

42.71

42.11

41.85

42.85

44.20

44.85

>>Interested in more commentary by Joe Mauck?  Go HERE

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