Nogger's Blog

17/03/11 -- Soybeans: May 11 soybeans closed at USD13.35 1/4, up 48 1/4 cents; May 11 soybean seal closed at USD358.60, up USD14.10; May 11 soybean oil closed at 54.52, up 156 points. What can we say? We've had possibly one of the most volatile weeks in the history of the grain markets. Heavy losses early in the week matched by heavy gains later in the week. Where will we be tomorrow, who knows? Weekly export sales from the USDA were poor at a combined 214,500 MT.

Corn: May 11 corn closed at USD6.46 1/2, up 30 cents; Dec 11 corn closed at USD5.79 1/4, up 30 cents. Unlike for soybeans weekly export sales were robust at over 1.3 MMT. South Korea purchased 110,000 MT of corn today and the USDA announced 110,000 MT of corn sold to unknown. Having supposedly sold a huge volume of corn this past few days, fund money was alleged to have bought more than 15,000 lots back in today. There were apparently over 120,000 of unfulfilled buy orders left over bidding limit up at the close of play.

Wheat: May 11 CBOT wheat closed at USD7.10 1/4, up 48 1/4 cents; May 11 KCBT wheat closed at USD8.31, up 52 3/4 cents; May 11 MGEX wheat closed at USD8.54 3/4, up 48 3/4 cents. The USDA's weekly wheat export sales were above trade estimates. Spillover support from limit up corn also helped wheat today. Where we go after here is anybody's guess though. This market has already turned on a sixpence twice in the space of a week. We can be sure that the market is more well aware of downside risk than it was a couple of weeks ago.