Chicago Grains End With Modest Losses

18/10/16 -- Soycomplex: Soybeans closed lower in "Turnaround Tuesday" type trade. The market is still struggling to weigh up strong demand with record US production. The USDA reported the sale of 706,500 MT of US beans to China. This was likely part of another "showcase" deal signed last week for an estimated 5 MMT. FCStone said that yesterday's USDA good to excellent crop rating of 74% is the best-rated crop for this time of year in 24 years. Planting conditions in South America are improving. EU rapeseed and rape oil prices are setting new highs on tight supply. Worries remain about the lateness of the canola harvest in Canada. Emergence is said to be a problem with recently planted winter rapeseed in Europe. Nov 16 Soybeans settled at $9.72 1/2, down 5 3/4 cents; Jan 17 Soybeans settled at $9.81 1/4, down 4 3/4 cents; Dec 16 Soybean Meal settled at $303.40, down $0.10; Dec 16 Soybean Oil settled at 35.07, down 37 points.

Corn: The corn market closed with small losses. In Brazil full season corn planting is continuing at a faster pace than last year, at 88% complete. Yields are expected to return to "normal" in 2016/17 following a poor harvest due to drought in 2015/16. The USDA's FAS in Europe lowered their estimate for this year's EU-28 corn crop to 60 MMT (the USDA themselves are at 60.3 MMT), although that's still up a little on 58 MMT a year ago. The USDA's FAS in Kiev estimated corn production in Ukraine this year at 26 MMT versus 23.3 MMT a year ago. They see 2016/17 corn exports at 18 MMT versus 16.9 MMT in 2015/16. Ending stocks are placed at 1.7 MMT versus 1.1 MMT last season. The EU will be Ukraine's top corn export home in 2016/17. The 5 day forecast is net wetter for the southern corn belt of Brazil and Argentina areas. The northern corn belt is dry," said FCStone. Dec 16 Corn settled at $3.53 3/4, down 1/4 cent; Mar 17 Corn settled at $3.63 1/2, down 1/2 cent.

Wheat: The wheat market closed lower, reversing some of the recent short-covering gains. Japan announced it's regular weekly tender for 132,000 MT of US, Canadian and Australian milling wheat. In Ukraine, "planting decisions made by farmers in regard to winter grains are being impacted by both economic factors and weather conditions," said the USDA. "Weather factors suggest insufficient levels of topsoil moisture as of the end of September 2016, which is confirmed by local weather reports as well as satellite imagery data," they added. Russia said that their grain exports so far this season are down 5% at 11.2 MMT, of which 9.24 MMT is wheat. The USDA's FAS in Europe estimated this year's wheat crop there at 144.5 MMT versus 160 MMT a year ago. That's still a bit higher than the USDA's own official forecast of 143.2 MMT though. Canadian production and quality is very likely coming down as they struggle to harvest the tail end of their crop, said Benson Quinn. Dec 16 CBOT Wheat settled at $4.20, down 3 3/4 cents; Dec 16 KCBT Wheat settled at $4.21 3/4, down 1/4 cent; Dec 16 MGEX Wheat settled at $5.27 3/4, down 1 1/4 cents.