Chicago Close - Tuesday
16/08/11 -- Soybeans: Sep 11 Soybeans closed at USD13.40, down 3 1/2 cents; Nov 11 Soybeans closed at $13.49 1/2, down 1 3/4 cents; Sep 11 Soybean Meal closed at USD351.30, down USD0.70; Sep 11 Soybean Oil closed at 55.00, up 9 points. The USDA's Farm Services Agency said that 1.4 million acres intended for soybeans didn't get planted this year with farmers making insurance claims for that area under the "prevent plant" clause. It isn't clear if this means that the USDA will downgrade it's existing planted area estimate or whether those acres are already factored in.
Corn: Sep 11 Corn closed at USD7.14, up 6 3/4 cents, Dec 11 Corn closed at USD7.27 1/2, up 7 1/2 cents. As with soybeans, the FSA reported almost 3 million acres of corn "prevent plant" claims. In typical USDA style nobody seems to know how accurate these numbers are, or how much if any, of these are already included within the existing production forecasts. Funds were said to have bought 9,000 contracts on the day.
Wheat: Sep 11 CBOT Wheat closed at USD7.24 3/4, up 12 1/4 cents; Sep 11 KCBT Wheat closed at USD8.17 1/2, up 6 1/2 cents; Sep 11 MGEX Wheat closed at USD8.96 1/4, up 23 1/2 cents. Minneapolis gained the most on ideas that much of the FSA's reported 3.8 million "prevent plant" acres will have been spring wheat. As with corn and beans much of this is conjecture and nobody appears to know how much of this is old news. Funds were said to be net buyers of 3,000 CBOT contracts on the day.
