Miller Magazine Issue: 143 November 2021

94 MARKET ANALYSIS MILLER / november 2021 Chicago winter wheat futures have been buoyed by worries about the newly planted crop. The most active contract for soft red winter wheat rose to its highest level since February 2013, and for hard red winter wheat, it peaked since May 2014. Winter wheat is approaching a dormant period after sprouting. Rainy weather in the eastern US Midwest may have prevented farmers from planting planned acreage. In Europe and the Black Sea region, the situation is also not ideal, but it is too early to draw conclusions - the critical moments are still far away, and in winter nobody canceled the snow. Rising wheat prices supported the corn futures quotes, which are showing a third day in a row, with the most active contract peaking since August 17. The basis is still holding, but we are again witnessing a struggle. Wet corn, expensive gas, farmers with fertilizers...Everyone is nervous. Soybeans fell on weakness in crude oil futures, which continued to correct from a seven-year high reached the day before. Many agricultural crops are used as raw materials for biofuel production. These are ethanol, biodiesel and hydrogenated vegetable oil. This also applies to soybeans, from which biodies- el production is possible. This fact seriously affects the pricing. During periods of sustained growth in oil prices, biofuel feedstock production begins to com- pete seriously with food production. When oil prices become cheaper, this implies a decrease in the de- mand for soybeans for biodiesel production. And corn for ethanol. But here's the thing - compound feed. More meal will be needed because the price of ami- no acids imported from China had risen a lot. so US feeder increased soybean meal. And not only in the States, although the market continues to look at them - all the money lives there. ADM and Gevo - a pioneer in converting renewable energy into low carbon, high calorific liquid hydrocar- bons - have signed a memorandum of understanding to support the production of cleaner aviation fuels (SAF) and other low carbon footprint hydrocarbon fuels. About 900 million gallons of ethanol produced at ADM's dry alcohol plants in Columbus, North Carolina and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and its facility in Decatur, Illinois, will be re-