Market News

Dollar, fundamentals pressure wheat

 

Soybeans were higher on fund and commercial buying. Chinese demand concerns have eased a bit with the Shanghai Composite sharply higher on Thursday and Friday. The trade is expecting a big crop, but there is still a long way to go until harvest. Forecasts for the next several days show mostly warm, dry conditions which could stress crops in already dry areas. Soybean oil was higher and soybean meal was lower on the adjustment of product spreads.

Corn was mixed in end of the week consolidation trade. Corn’s also watching the weather and that chance for crop stress in dry parts of the Cornbelt. Contracts are expected to stay in a sideways range over the near term. Even with the outside market turmoil, the most active corn contracts were only down a couple of cents for the week. The 2014/15 marketing year for corn and soybeans ends Monday, August 31st. Ethanol futures were higher. The International Grains Council has 2015/16 world corn production at 968 million tons.

The wheat complex was lower on fund and technical selling, along with the higher dollar. The fundamentals are bearish with a large world supply and slow export demand for U.S. wheat. Those factors pressured December Chicago to a new contract low. There’s rain in the forecast for dry parts of Australia next month and overall global crop conditions look good. There is still at least some commercial support, especially in Chicago, around current price levels. SovEcon has Russia’s 2015 grain crop at 101 million tons, up 2 million from earlier estimates.