Market News

Commercial demand supports wheat

Soybeans were mixed with nearbys up on commercial buying. There’s still a lot of uncertainty about the truck strike in Brazil, but we do know that there’s a record South American soybean crop. In any event, domestic and export demand both continue to look strong. Soybean meal was lower and bean oil was higher on the adjustment of product spreads. Argentina’s government projects 2014/15 soybean production at 58.0 million tons, compared to the prior estimate of 53.4 million tons.

Corn was higher on fund and technical buying. Saudi Arabia bought 140,000 tons of 2014/15 U.S. corn, demand is solid and farmer selling is light, but there’s plenty of corn available. Friday was the first notice day for March grain and oilseed contracts. Ethanol futures were higher. According to Argentina’s government, 2014/15 corn production should be 30.0 million tons, 3 million less than the last estimate. For 2015/16, the International Grains Council sees world corn production declining 5%. China bought 120,000 tons of grain sorghum, half for this marketing year and half for next marketing year.

The wheat complex was higher on fund and commercial buying. The trade’s keeping an eye on the latest round of winter weather in the Midwest and Plains. Also, contracts were oversold and due for a bounce after the recent losses. Nothing’s changed fundamentally, with slow demand for U.S. supplies. The International Grains Council expects world wheat production to be down 2% from 2014/15 to 2015/16. According to Russia’s Ag Ministry, February wheat exports were down 57% on the year after an export tax went into effect February 1^st.