Chicago Corn Hit Hard
31/03/16 -- Soycomplex: Beans closed with small gains, something of an achievement considering the performance of corn. May 16 Soybeans settled at $9.10 3/4, up 1 3/4 cents,; Jul 16 Soybeans settled at $9.17 3/4, up 1 1/2 cents; May 16 Soybean Meal settled at $270.30, down $1.60; May 16 Soybean Oil settled at 34.22, up 43 points. The USDA had 2016 US soybean planting intentions at 82.2 million acres, putting Mar 1 stocks at 1.531 billion bushels, which was around 25 million bu smaller than the average trade guess. Plantings last year were 82.5 million ha. Weekly export sales on beans of 271,500 MT for 2015/16 were down 34 percent from the previous week and 43 percent from the prior 4-week average, and at the lower end of expectations of 250,000 to 400,000 MT. Exports of 464,700 MT were down 18 percent from the previous week and 49 percent from the prior 4-week average.
Corn: The corn market closed with steep losses after the USDA said that it expects US farmers to plant 93.6 million acres of corn this spring. That's 5.6 million above year ago levels and 2 million over even the highest trade estimate. Corn stocks as of March 1 were a bit higher than the average trade estimate at 7.81 billion bu and compared to 7.5 billion in 2015. Weekly export sales of 790,600 MT for 2015/16 were down 2 percent from the previous week and 27 percent below the prior 4-week average but in line with what was expected. Exports of 1,136,000 MT were a marketing-year-high but that couldn't stop the rot today. May 16 Corn settled at $3.51 1/2, down 15 1/2 cents; Jul 16 Corn settled at $3.55 3/4, down 15 3/4 cents. The finish on May 16 matched the lowest close for a front month of the year so far.
Wheat: The wheat market closed with decent gains, suggesting that there may have been some unwinding of spreads that were short wheat/long corn going on. The USDA said that all wheat planted acres this year would come in at only 49.6 million acres, the smallest figure reported for US wheat plantings since 1970. It was also around a million acres below the lowest trade guess. Winter wheat acres are estimated at 36.2 million, down 8 percent from last year. All wheat stocks as of March 1 took the shine off, coming in at an estimated 1.37 billion bushels, up 20 percent from a year ago and above the average trade guess. Weekly export sales of 317,200 MT for delivery in marketing year 2015/16 were down 14 percent from the previous week, but up 1 percent from the prior 4-week average. They also beat modest trade forecasts of 175,000 to 225,000 MT. Jul 16 CBOT Wheat settled at $4.80 3/4, up 9 1/4 cents; Jul 16 KCBT Wheat settled at $4.87, up 10 cents; Jul 16 MGEX Wheat settled at $5.37 3/4, up 14 1/2 cents.