US Grain Markets Fall, Led By Wheat
13/04/15 -- Soycomplex: Beans continue to grind a touch lower, and have now fallen for 6 of the past 7 sessions. Demand for US beans continues to slip towards the southern hemisphere as the harvest there advances and the Brazilian real and Argentine peso weaken versus the US dollar. Weekly US export inspections slowed to 450,317 MT last week, down from 569,648 MT the previous week, the USDA said today. AgRural said that the Brazilian bean harvest was 84% complete as of Friday, up from 77% a week previously. They estimated this year's crop at a record 93.8 MMT. The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange said last week that the Argentine soybean harvest is 13.8% done, up 6.8 percentage points versus a year ago. They see production there at a record 58.5 MMT. Customs data shows that China imported 4.49 MMT of beans in March, up 5.4% versus the shorter (and Lunar New Year) month of February. That means that China imported 15.63 MMT of beans in the first quarter of the year, up a modest 1.9% from a year ago. They are importing less edible oil. Imports of that were down by more than a third at 360,000 MT in March. That takes Q1 edible oil imports to 1.05 MMT, a fall of 46% compared to a year previously. May 15 Soybeans closed at $9.48 3/4, down 2 3/4 cents; Jul 15 Soybeans closed at $9.52 3/4, down 3 1/4 cents; May 15 Soybean Meal closed at $308.80, down $0.40; May 15 Soybean Oil closed at 31.04, down 5 points.
Corn: The corn market closed lower, under spillover pressure from tumbling wheat prices. Weekly export inspections weren't too bad at 855,766 MT, although they were well below the 1.039 MMT from last week and 1.479 MMT for the same week in 2014. The USDA reported US corn plantings at 2% complete in their first numbers of the season. That's one point behind of this time last year, and three behind the previous 5-year average pace. Southern states remain delayed, with NC at 17% done versus 28% on average, KY is 3% complete versus 15% normally, and TN is at 6% versus 23% typically at this time. Sorghum plantings are 19% done versus 16% a year ago and 20% on average. Safras e Mercado said that Brazil's first corn crop is 61.4% harvested versus 73.7% a year ago. In Argentina the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange said that the corn harvest was 17.1% complete last week, up 0.6 percentage points on a year ago. The Argentine government are expected to release 2-3 MMT of corn export licenses at some point over the next week as the harvest there progresses and confidence of a decent crop again this year rises. China are expected to auction 331,500 MT of corn from state-owned reserves on Thursday. Russia said that it had exported 35% less corn (at just over 2 MMT) so far this season than it had a year ago. May 15 Corn closed at $3.70 1/2, down 6 1/2 cents; Jul 15 Corn closed at $3.78, down 6 3/4 cents.
Wheat: The wheat market crashed sharply lower on beneficial weekend rains in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. Kansas wheat was the biggest loser, slumping the best part of 30 cents, although the Chicago and Minneapolis markets also suffered significant losses. Forecasts for the week ahead also offer further chances of rain. Weekly export inspections were fair at 445,317 MT. South Korea tendered for 24,000 MT of wheat for Aug/Sep shipment. Iraq tendered for 50,000 MT of Australian, US, Canadian and/or Russian wheat. Egypt said that they will begin buying up to 3.7 MMT of local wheat tomorrow. After the close the USDA cut the proportion of the US winter wheat crop rated good to excellent by two points from last week to 42%. The crop is now rated 19% poor to very poor, up from 16% a week ago. Kansas slipped from 23% to 28% in the poor/very poor category and was down from 33% to 28% good/excellent. Oklahoma declined from 16% to 26% poor/very poor and from 43% to 36% in the good/excellent category. The crop is 5% headed versus 6% last year and 8% on average, they added. Spring wheat planting is 17% complete versus 5% a year ago and 11% on average, with all the leading states bar ND well ahead of the norm. WA is 70% done already compared to only 42% both a year ago and for the 5-year average. May 15 CBOT Wheat closed at $5.02 1/4, down 24 1/4 cents; May 15 KCBT Wheat closed at $5.29, down 29 3/4 cents; May 15 MGEX Wheat closed at $5.60, down 21 cents.