Market News

Old crop soybeans, corn finish firm

Soybeans were mixed with nearby contracts up and deferred months down on the adjustment of old crop/new crop spreads. Parts of Argentina remain too wet to harvest and part of their soybean crop has been lost, maybe as much as 5%, according to Allendale and the Rosario Grain Exchange. Brazil’s still on pace for record production and U.S. production should be ample. Soybean meal was up and bean oil was down on the adjustment of product spreads.

Corn was mixed on old crop/new crop adjustments, also with old crop up and new crop down. Japan bought 100,640 tons of 2015/16 U.S. corn and heading into Friday’s open, there were no deliveries on the May contract. Forecasts had more rain and even snow in parts of the Plains and Midwest. Ethanol was mixed, with June and July firm, and August weak. The USDA’s attaché in Ukraine is projecting an 18% increase in production, while Bunge says Brazil’s second corn crop could be reduced by 5 to 10 million tons because of dry weather. Brazilian firm Franca Junior, via Reuters, now sees production at 79.5 million tons, down 7.6 million on the month.

The wheat complex was higher on commercial and technical buying, along with the lower dollar. The fundamentals are bearish, but wheat is seen as a good value at these price levels, pulling contracts back into positive territory. Wheat’s also watching the weather, with moderate to heavy rainfall expected in the southwestern Plains. Saudi Arabia is tendering for 550,000 tons of optional origin wheat. The USDA’s attaché in Ukraine is currently expecting a 10% year to year decline in wheat production.