Nogger's Blog

15/04/11 -- Soybeans: May 11 soybeans closed at USD13.31 3/4, up 3/4 cent; Nov 11 soybeans closed at USD13.39 3/4, down 5 1/2 cents; May 11 soybean meal closed at USD345.20, up USD2.70; May 11 soybean oil closed at 56.84, down 3 points. May beans were down 60 1/2 cents on the week, with new crop Nov falling 56 1/4c. The USDA confirmed the sale of 165,000 MT of new crop US soybeans to China today. As buying interest switches to South America though, generally US sales are flagging, with only one of the last five weeks seeing sales in excess of 150,000 MT.

Corn: May 11 corn closed at USD7.42, down 12 1/4 cents; Dec 11 corn closed at USD6.56, up 1/2 cent. May lost 26c on the week whilst new crop Dec gained 3c. A violent storm is bringing unwanted snow to the Northern Plains before moving east, which will inevitably delay spring plantings there, supporting new crop months. The USD7.44 level was seen as a pivotal support point for May corn, a close below there could signal a major downwards correction, according to the chartists out there. As you can see corn did indeed close below that level, so next week's action could be interesting.

Wheat: May 11 CBOT wheat closed at USD7.44 1/4, up 3 3/4 cents; May 11 KCBT wheat closed at USD8.65 1/2, up 1 1/2 cents; May 11 MGEX wheat closed at USD8.89, down 3/4 cent. CBOT wheat fell 53c on the week, with Kansas wheat down 67 1/4c and Minneapolis declining 64 1/4c. The forecast rains may improved conditions for HRW wheat in Kansas/Oklahoma, but may hinder spring wheat plantings further north. CBOT wheat manged to close the week only a marginal 2 1/4c higher than corn. Two months ago that differential was more than 170c!