CBOT Closing Comments

Soybeans

September beans finished at $10.09 ¼, down 4 ¾ cents, and November at $9.51, down 4 ½ cents. Good weather over the next week should aid in crop development before above normal precipitation enters the Midwest and Northern Plains. Any threat of frost seems to have gone away for the time being at least. Brazilian analysts Celeres said that the country will produce a record 64.7 MMT of beans in 2010. Assorted early guesses for Argentina are also record with Oil World saying 52 MMT. China only found takers for 10,000 MT of soybeans in it's weekly auction today. Trade estimates for tomorrow’s export sales range from 550,000 to 750,000 MT.

Corn

September corn closed at $3.13 ¼, up 1 cent and December at $3.19 ¼, unchanged. Whilst no early frost is in the forecast the market continues to decline. Above normal rainfall is predicted for the Midwest and Northern Plains from Sept 7th to the 11th, with cooler temps entering the picture from the 9th to the 15th. FC Stone issued their latest forecasts on US crop production last night, pegging the US corn crop at 13.020 billion bushels with a yield of 162.7 bu/acre. Both numbers are significantly higher than last month's USDA estimates of 12.761 billion and 159.5 bu/acre. Trade estimates for tomorrow’s export sales range from 700,000 to 900,000 MT. Last week’s sales were 973,000 MT.

Wheat

September wheat closed at $4.57, down 2 ¼ cents. Egypt purchased 330,000 MT of wheat for first half October delivery and 60,000 MT of that business was sourced in the US. Spring wheat harvest remains behind normal, especially in North Dakota, the number one spring wheat state. Above normal rainfall predicted for September 7 to the 15 will continue to cause difficulty for North Dakota wheat producers. SovEcon have increased their estimate on Russian grain production this season to 97 MMT, of which wheat output will now be 60 MMT, they say. Whilst both those numbers are down on last year, they are above early season expectations. Export sales estimates range between 375,000 and 525,000 MT. Last week’s sales were 652,700 MT.