Price strength expected in 2017

One market analyst believes markets should give farmers some decent selling opportunities as we enter the 2017 growing season.

Dan Zwicker, owner of Zwicker Consulting in Waco, Texas, has been watching cycles his entire career. He thinks we are positioned positively according to long-term price cycles.

“I think short-term, a lot of it is going to be farmer movement by liquidating inventory prior to spring, trying to get it out of the bins before fieldwork,” Zwicker told The Central Illinois Farm Network this week.

Zwicker will be closely watching market performance after Donald Trump takes over the presidency in January.

“Corrections in the stock market and corrections in the dollar would be very positive toward overall commodity prices.”

There are currently factors working against higher prices as we are seeing the opposite of what occurred during early December. We are in a liquidation phase heading into the holiday period. Zwicker believes trade volume will likely lighten up significantly heading into next week.

“Argentina has been able to catch a couple of rains here over the past couple of days and that is kind of improving overall crop prospects in Argentina,” he said.

The upcoming January crop report is traditionally considered old news for the market. Zwicker refers to it as the “final nail in the coffin” for the 2016 crop with very few surprises expected.