Chicago Market Continues To Rise

Posted by Nogger - a legend in his own mind at 08:26 | Categorized as

15/03/12 -- Soybeans: May 12 Soybeans closed at USD13.69, up 18 3/4 cents; Nov 12 Soybeans closed at USD13.26 1/4, up 15 1/4 cents; May 12 Soybean Meal closed at USD371.40, up USD4.20; May 12 Soybean Oil closed at 55.48, up 68 point. Weekly export sales for both old and new crop came in at an impressive 1.4 MMT, well above expectations for sales of 650 to 900 thousand MT. Insatiable China took 368,200 MT of the old crop and almost all of the new crop. Funds bought an estimated 7,000 soybean contracts on the day as a weaker dollar added to the bullish tone. The soybean market remains heavily overbought and therefore vulnerable to a shake-out at some point, but how much higher might we go first?

Corn: May 12 Corn closed at USD6.69, up 10 1/4 cents; Dec 12 Corn closed at USD5.72 1/4, up 8 1/4 cents. Funds were said to have bought 11,000 contracts on the day. Spillover support came from the other pits, with beans and wheat both sharply higher. Weekly export sales were 836,400 MT, all of old crop, at the top end of trade estimates for sales of 600 to 850 thousand MT. That's well above what is needed to match the USDA's 2011/12 export target suggesting that ending stocks may in fact finish up being considerably tighter than they currently project. The Rosario Grain Exchange lowered it's Argentine corn production to 20.8 MMT from 21.3 MMT, harvesting there is said to be around 12% complete.

Wheat: May 12 CBOT Wheat closed at USD6.64 3/4, up 21 cents; May 12 KCBT Wheat closed at USD7.04 1/2, up 23 1/2 cents; May 12 MGEX Wheat closed at USD8.20 1/4, up 13 3/4 cents. For wheat, export sales were a disappointment at 302,400 MT of old crop and 57,900 MT of new crop. Trade estimates were for sales of 400 to 600 TMT. Weekly shipments however were a marketing year high at 913,000 MT. In amongst the weekly sales was one to Spain where the ongoing drought is causing concern. Egypt bought one cargo each of Canadian and US wheat. Iraq just bought Canadian wheat. The fund short in Chicago wheat still exists but should have been trimmed further today.