In the past couple of weeks ethanol demand has slowly picked up as quarantine restrictions are slowly being lifted and ethanol plants are opening back up. The recent DOE ethanol report shows ethanol stocks down to 22,476 thousand barrels, becoming more in line with the 3-year range. Total production has been improving but is still 200-300 thousand barrels per day behind.
Soybean exports have been picking up but still behind USDA estimates. China has been looking around for beans and has bought a few barges. Brazil seems to be running out of soybeans after setting multiple weekly export records in April and May. Political pressure, currency moves, and unknown Chinese ending stocks all weigh on whether buying will continue or dry up.
The quick spring we have had this year has crop progress off to a favorable start. Corn planting is 3 % ahead of average and beans are 7% ahead of average. Emergence is 5% ahead of average for corn and 6% for beans. Good to excellent conditions for corn are 4% ahead of average and 16% ahead of last year. With last year's slow spring there is no data to compare the soybean ratings compared to previous years yet.
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