Chicago Close - Monday

21/12/15 -- Soycomplex: Beans closed a touch lower. Weekly export sales of 1.463 MMT were fairly good, and up 7% on a week ago. They were however 36% smaller than the same week in 2014. YTD exports are 7% down on this time a year ago. Jan 16 Soybeans settled at $8.91 1/4, down 1 cent; Mar 16 Soybeans settled at $8.91 1/2, down 1 1/4 cents; Jan 16 Soybean Meal settled at $279.00, down $2.00; Jan 16 Soybean Oil settled at 30.77, up 24 pips.

Corn: The corn market closed around a couple of cents lower. Weekly export sales of 718,888 MT were pretty good and up 27% from the week before. YTD inspections are sill 22% smaller than last year however. South Koreas's MFG bought 232 TMT of optional origin corn for May/Jun delivery said to be at $182-184 C&F. Russia said that they'd exported 1.55 MMT of corn Jul 1 to Dec 16. Mar 16 Corn settled at $3.72, down 2 1/2 cents; May 16 Corn settled at $3.78, down 2 1/2 cents.

Wheat: The wheat market closed lower a across the three exchanges. Weekly export sales of 475,375 MT were in line with expectations and 8% up on a week ago. YTD inspections are still nearly 14% smaller than last year. Jordan were reported to have bought 25,000 MT of hard wheat for Jan shipment. Russia said that they'd exported 18.6 MMT of grains Jul 1 to Dec 16 - a 5% drop on a year ago, with wheat accounting for 75.8% (14.1 MMT) of that total. May 16 CBOT Wheat settled at $4.86 1/4, down 6 3/4 cents; May 16 KCBT Wheat settled at $4.84 1/4, down 8 cents; May 16 MGEX Wheat settled at $5.11 1/4, down 4 3/4 cents.