US received wheat and corn prices on the rise: USDA

The average received prices for US wheat and corn continued their upward trend in January, hitting a five and six-month high respectively, while soybean prices remained unchanged on the month, according to pricing data from the USDA released late Tuesday.

Prices received for US wheat for January moved up 18 cents from December to $4.69/bu, the highest price seen since August 2017, and up 68 cents from January 2017.

The biggest price increases were received in the states of Michigan (+16%), Illinois (+15%) and Oklahoma (+14%), with cold weather and drought taking their toll and raising fears of extensive damage to the planted crop.

The total average barley price moved up as well to $4.45/bu, up 7 cents on the month, but was down 46 cents from January 2017.

Corn prices followed the same trend and gained 6 cents from December to $3.29/bu, a six-month low but are down 11 cents from January 2017.

The states of New York and New Mexico saw the highest month-on-month increases, of 8% and 7% respectively.

Received soybean prices in the US were a mixed bag with prices going up in Arkansas (2%) and North Carolina (2%) but saw decreases in Mississippi (-3%) and Wisconsin (-2%).

The US average soybean price for January this year was $9.30/bu, unchanged on the month, and down 41 cents, or 4%, from January 2017.