Chicago Closing Comments

16/06/11 -- Soybeans: Jul 11 soybeans closed at USD13.50 1/2, down 17 1/2 cents; Nov 11 soybeans closed at USD13.50 1/4, down 16 1/2 cents; Jul 11 soybean meal closed at USD353.70, down USD6.30; Jul 11 soybean oil closed at 56.32, down 73 points. Soybean weekly export sales were 185,400 MT, a bit slack but in line with trade ideas of just 100-200 TMT. Widespread nervousness surrounding the global economy is encouraging money to continue to exit commodities. Spillover weakness from slumping corn, which soybeans managed to ignore yesterday, was simply too great today.

Corn: Jul 11 corn closed at USD7.01 1/2, down 24 1/4 cents; Dec 11 corn closed at USD6.53, down 13 cents. Weekly export sales for corn were 794,700 MT, again a bit flat compared to expectations of 700,000 to 1,200,000 MT. In its second vote in a week the Senate went 73-27 in favour of cutting the 45 cent ethanol blenders tax break, also cutting the 54 cent import duty on shipping ethanol into the US from abroad. We're still a long way off that becoming law though. Front month July has dropped almost a dollar in four down sessions in a row as large fund length exits the market.

Wheat: Jul 11 CBOT wheat closed at USD6.73 1/4, down 35 1/4 cents; Jul 11 KCBT wheat closed at USD7.98, down 21 1/4 cents; Jul 11 MGEX wheat closed at $9.00 1/4, down 36 3/4 cents. Wheat remains cheaper than corn by virtue of the fact it is falling even faster than it's competitor based on today's performance. Weekly export sales were 455,500 MT - at the low end of pre-report expectations of 400-800 TMT. Technically July CBOT wheat put in a damaging performance from a chartists viewpoint having failed to break through resistance at 6.90 on three previous occasions.