Market News

Wheat support by weather, commercial buying

 

Soybeans were firm on spillover from corn and wheat, along with technical buying. Traders were getting ready for Tuesday’s USDA prospective planting and quarterly stocks numbers. Acreage should be up on the year, while stocks are expected to show strong demand. Even if supplies are above a year ago, it was a function of harvest size, not slow demand. Soybean meal was higher and bean oil was lower.

Corn was modestly higher on short covering and technical buying, in addition to the strength in wheat. Corn was also getting ready for the reports, which could show lower acreage and solid demand. Past that – unknown destinations picked up 131,172 tons of old crop U.S. corn. Corn’s also keeping an eye on fieldwork delays around the Southeastern Cornbelt. Ethanol futures were higher.

The wheat complex was higher on short covering and commercial buying. There are continued development concerns for the U.S. winter wheat crop. Parts of the soft red winter growing region are too wet and large portions of the hard red winter area are too dry. In any event, Tuesday’s USDA numbers should be neutral to bearish, with neutral acreage and a large supply. Israel is tendering for 45,000 tons of U.S. feed wheat and Jordan is in the market for 100,000 tons of optional origin milling wheat.