U.S. government sanctions on agricultural sales to Iran were eased last year, and the new sanctions language recently enacted make U.S. government credit programs available for Iranian purchases. Wheat exports of 426,700 MT were 22 percent below the previous week and 6 percent under the 4-week average. On the other hand, sales to Egypt are 825 TMT more than they were this time last year, standing at 3.3 MMT as of November 9. The new specs will be effective with February 2001 tenders and April 2001 shipments. The basis for spring wheat right now is red hot.
Someone wants to buy our spring wheat, but farmers are unwilling to sell.
Basis has not been this strong in several years and now it a great time to starting thinking about making cash sales. Unfortunately there's just no way to take advantage of both the strong basis and the good carrying charge. You have to choose one over the other. Whenever basis strengthens, you can bet that cash demand is higher than cash sales. Farmers just aren't willing to sell right now.