USDA Blockbuster - RECORD Corn and Soybean Yield Cuts

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🌽 Corn Futures Surge Following USDA’s Bullish Report 📊
Corn futures rallied sharply on Friday, with the nearby Mar25 contract gaining more than 14 cents per bushel and posting its best trade since June 20th 📈. The USDA reduced its estimate of the 2024 US corn crop by a whopping 267 million bushels, and USDA’s estimate of last year's national corn yield was cut by 3.8 bushels per acre, marking the largest Nov to Jan cut on record. As a result, 2024/2025 US corn ending stocks were revised down to 1.54 billion bushels from 1.738 billion previously 📉. See the ending stocks to use ratio charts below.

🌱 Soybean Futures Follow Corn’s Lead 📈
Soybean futures also rallied on Friday, with the Mar25 contract gaining over 26 cents per bushel, marking its best trade in nearly two months 📅. The USDA reduced its estimate of the 2024 US soybean crop by 95 million bushels. The USDA’s estimate of last year's US national soybean yield was cut by 1 bushel per acre, the largest Nov to Jan cut on record. Additionally, 2024/2025 US soybean ending stocks were lowered to 380 million bushels from 470 million previously 🌾.

🛢️ Crude Oil Prices Surge Following U.S. Sanctions 🇷🇺
Crude oil prices surged on Friday, with WTI crude rising 3.6% to settle at $76.57 per barrel, its highest level since October 🔝. The increase was driven by U.S. sanctions targeting Russian oil companies and more than 180 tankers, along with Russian energy officials and executives. These sanctions are expected to push Indian and Chinese refiners to turn to the Middle East for additional oil supplies 🌍.

📊 US Export Sales Underperform 📉
US export sales were disappointing last week. Net corn sales dropped to a marketing year low of 445,000mt (18 million bushels), down 43% from the previous week and 61% from the prior 4-week average 📉. Net soybean sales also fell to a marketing year low, with a total of 288,700mt (11 million bushels), down 40% from the previous week and 72% from the 4-week average 🚫. Net wheat sales also hit a marketing year low, coming in at 111,300mt (4 million bushels), down 21% from the prior week and 70% from the prior 4-week average 📊. See charts below.

🍳 Biden Administration Releases 45Z Tax Credit Guidance 🍴
The Biden administration released updated 45Z tax credit guidance on Friday 📝. The guidance prohibits the use of used cooking oil imports for biofuel production from qualifying for the tax credit under the GREET model. This led March soybean oil futures to jump 7%, reaching their highest level since June 2023. The updated guidance comes after a surge in cheaper used cooking oil imports from China, which had undercut domestic soybean oil prices 💸. While providing clarity, many US biofuel and agricultural groups criticized the guidance for lacking sufficient details on qualifying criteria 🌿.

🌍 Brazil’s Soybean Crop: Conflicting Projections 🌾
Brazil’s soybean crop projections remain in flux 📉. On Friday, Patria Agronegocios revised its estimate downward to 167.9mmt, a reduction from its earlier forecast of 170.4mmt. This revision was due to unfavorable weather impacting crop yields in some regions 🌧️. On the other hand, Safras and Mercado raised its forecast to 173.7mmt, an increase from 171.8mmt. Despite concerns about weather, Mato Grosso is expected to offset some production losses.