Market News

Dollar pressures wheat, soybeans, corn

 

Soybeans were lower on fund and technical selling, along with outside market pressure. Crush margins are improving and demand for old crop soybeans continues to be strong, but the supply is only getting larger. The USDA reports that as of Sunday, 61% of soybeans are planted, compared to the five year average of 55%. 32% has emerged, compared to 25% on average. Soybean meal was lower and bean oil was higher on the adjustment of product spreads. Commercial demand has been limiting losses for soybeans, along with labor issues in Argentina.

Corn was lower on fund and technical selling, in addition to spillover from the outside markets. Corn planting did slow down last week, but the trade was expecting planting to be more than 90% complete in Tuesday afternoon’s report. 92% of corn is planted, compared to 88% on average, and 74% has emerged, compared to 62% on average. In the first rating of the season, 74% of U.S. corn is in good to excellent shape. Ethanol futures were lower. Ukraine’s Ag Ministry says 2015 corn exports to China could be as high as 4.0 million tons.

The wheat complex was lower on fund and technical selling, along with the higher dollar. There are concerns about weather damage around the southwestern Plains, but traders were more focused on the broader market. For winter wheat, 77% has headed, compared to 67% on average, and 45% of the crop is rated good to excellent, unchanged on the week. For spring wheat, 96% is planted, compared to 79% on average, and 80% has emerged, compared to 54% on average, with 69% of the crop called good to excellent, a 4% increase. According to SovEcon, Russian farmers could harvest 95 million tons of grain this year, compared to 105 million last year. Ukraine’s Ag Ministry projects 2015 grain production at 54.9 million tons, primarily due to an increase in wheat, from 21 million to 22 million tons. South Korea bought 69,000 tons of optional origin feed wheat.