Soybeans and wheat were down; cotton and corn were up for the week. December corn has bounced back from the August 12th low of $3.57 ½. Corn yields continue to be the subject of great debate as several crop tours have substantially different state yield estimates than the August 12th USDA Crop Production report. It is generally accepted that the Western Corn Belt will have record-to-near record yields while the Eastern Corn Belt will have yields that are below trend. Whether the good yields in the west offset the poorer yields in the east will determine if the USDA’s estimated national average yield of 168.8 bu/acre is high or low. Continue reading at Tennessee Market Highlights.

Corn, soybeans, and wheat were down; cotton was up for the week. In grain and oilseed markets there were two dominant pieces of news this week: 1) the devaluation of the Chinese Yuan and 2) the August 12th WASDE and Crop Production reports. On August 10th the Chinese Yuan was trading at 6.21 to 1 USD. As of writing on August 14th, the Yuan was trading at 6.43 to 1 USD, 3.5% less than the beginning of the week. Simplistically stated the devaluation of the Chinese Yuan makes U.S. exports more ex-pensive for Chinese consumers to purchase and makes Chinese goods imported into the U.S. less expensive, all else being equal. While the full ramifications of this devaluation are yet to be determined for U.S. agricultural exports, it is likely that given the USD’s relative strength and the large global supplies of many grains, oilseeds, and fiber crops that exports and domestic prices will be adversely affected. Continue reading at Tennessee Market Highlights.