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01/04/11 -- Soybeans: May 11 soybeans closed at USD13.93 3/4, down 16 1/2 cents; Nov 11 soybeans closed at USD13.89 1/4, down 5 3/4 cents; May 11 soybean meal closed at USD360.90, down USD9.80, May 11 soybean oil closed at 58.68, down 10 points. Beans gave up a portion of yesterday's gains and meal gave up almost all of them. On the week as a whole old crop beans were around 36c higher and new crop up 39c or so. The soy complex fell despite another strong performance from corn as the trade concentrated more on export business switching to South America rather than tight old crop supplies. Talk that China may be cancelling or at least deferring existing purchases added some negative sentiment. Corn: May 11 corn closed at USD7.36, up 42 3/4 cents; Dec 11 corn closed at USD6.37 1/2, up 12 1/4 cents. Nearby corn opened up the extended daily 45c limit and stayed there for most of the day before falling beans and wheat led to a bit of profit taking ahead of the weekend. Funds were said to have bought around 40,000 contracts on the day, extending their net long to around 350,000 lots. The old crop/new crop spread widened as traders balance the very tight 2010/11 stocks situation against the second highest plantings since the war for the 2011/12 marketing year. Old crop gained around 47c on the week, with new crop up around 28c.
Wheat: May 11 CBOT wheat closed at USD7.59 1/2, down 3 3/4 cents; May 11 KCBT wheat closed at USD9.06 1/2, down 1 1/2 cents; May 11 MGEX wheat closed at USD9.22 1/2, down 1 1/4 cents. Nearby Chicago wheat gained around 26c on the week, with Kansas up 51c and MGEX up 41c. Wheat remains supported by spiralling corn, the poor state of the US HRW wheat crop on the southern Plains and potential delays to spring wheat plantings further north. Despite a slightly negative report for wheat from the USDA yesterday it seems unlikely that US wheat prices can fall much whilst corn levels are rising so rapidly. The front month corn/wheat spread tightened to 23 1/2c, a month ago it was 74 3/4c and four months ago at the end of 2010 it was 168 3/4c.
