Chicago Close

Posted by Nogger - a legend in his own mind at 22:41 | Categorized as

10/02/11 -- Soybeans: Beans fell around 17-18 cents on consolidation and profit-taking from yesterday's gains. Overall weekly export sales were in line with expectations, but old crop disappointed at only 20,800 MT. China decreased their original purchases by 261,700 MT for 2010/11 delivery. That's a bit of a blow for the bulls forecasting USD16/17 beans. March soybeans finished down 18 cents at USD14.33 a bushel.

Corn: Corn rose above USD7/bushel, but closed below that level again by the end of play, with front month March ending at USD6.98 1/2/bushel. Export sales were strong at 1,107,300 MT for 2010/11 delivery and 104,500 MT for 2011/12 delivery. Talk that 40% of the US corn crop now going into ethanol manufacture is unhealthy is gathering support. Will the US government do anything about it though? As rising food prices gain more headlines on the popular press then maybe they just might do.

Wheat: CBOT wheat futures closed around 23c easier, with KCBT down 20c and MGEX 12-13c lower. Global demand remains strong, but large spec length is always going to be vulnerable to booking profits at these lofty heights. Japan booked mostly US wheat at it's usual weekly tender. Algeria was in the market buying 200,000 MT of what was probably French wheat in the end. There are still plenty of tenders for US wheat to aim at, but stocks aren't that tight and the harvest in the south isn't really that far away.