March WASDE Shows Little Change

The March USDA World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report was not expected to be a market-mover, as it is typically less volatile than the January report, which was released in combination with the February report due to the government shutdown. Although there were some surprises, the futures price action post-report resulted in little change. Shortly after the report, soybeans renewed their bearish move lower, fueled not only by bearish supply-and-demand news, but also fund and technical selling. Despite the bearish change to both corn and wheat markets, the post-report price move was negligible, as it appears that bearishness was already factored into prices. Key changes in the report were a higher-than-expected reduction in both U.S. wheat and corn exports. Following some minor tweaks in wheat imports and feed use, and an expected decline in corn for ethanol usage, wheat ending stocks rose 45 million bushels (mb) and corn ending stocks were up 100 mb from February -- primarily on expectations of slowing demand due to lower-priced competitors.