Market News

Supply pressure sends soybeans, corn lower

Soybeans were lower on commercial and technical selling. Brazil’s harvest is about a third of the way complete with a few near term rain delays. Private firm AgroConsult has Brazil’s crop at 107.8 million tons. The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange has Argentina’s crop at 54.8 million tons. The USDA’s Ag Outlook Forum has planted area at 88 million acres with an average price of $9.60 per bushel. Soybean meal and oil followed beans lower.

Corn was lower on commercial and technical selling. Corn’s also watching South America and the Outlook Forum with planted area projected at 90 million acres with an average price of $3.50 per bushel. There are a lot of unknowns, so any real long term impact from this set of numbers may be limited. Nearby ethanol futures were mostly weak. Weekly export sales are delayed until Friday. Brazilian firm AgroConsult sees Brazil’s corn crop at 93 million tons, which would be up 39% on the year. There’s more talk about China exporting corn to other Asian nations, but nothing has really surfaced.

The wheat complex was mixed with Chicago down, Minneapolis up, and Kansas City mostly steady. Forecasts have snow and much colder temperatures in parts of the Plains, potentially stressing winter wheat. The USDA’s Outlook Forum has all wheat acreage at 46 million acres with an average price of $4.30 per bushel. A private firm in Argentina has that nation’s 2016/17 wheat crop at a record 18.3 million tons thanks to a 20% increase in planted area. Tunisia purchased 100,000 tons of optional origin milling wheat and Jordan bought 100,000 tons of, according to DTN, “unknown origin” milling wheat. Egypt purchased 300,000 tons of milling wheat from Russia and 60,000 tons from Ukraine.