Nogger's Blog

18/01/12 -- Soybeans: Mar 12 Soybeans closed unchanged at USD11.83 1/2; May 12 Soybeans closed at USD11.92 1/4, down 1/4 cent; Mar 12 Soybean Meal closed at USD312.00, up USD1.50; Mar 12 Soybean Oil closed at 50.40, down 37 pips. Beans recovered from trading 10-11 cents lower in early exchanges, despite corn and wheat staying mired at those levels. That may have been down to the unwinding of long corn/short soybean spreads. A wetter outlook for Argentina moving up from the south on Saturday and pushing north into Wednesday should bring some stress relief. China are said to be actively seeking soybeans ahead of their New Year celebrations that start next Monday.

Corn: Mar 12 Corn closed at USD5.93 1/2, down 10 1/2 cents; May 12 Corn closed at USD6.00 1/4, down 10 1/2 cents. Corn crashed below the six dollar mark with funds selling an estimated 13,000 contracts on the day, which would have them dumping 40,000 lots since the USDA report came out last Thursday. The ongoing debt problems in Europe continue to keep the market nervous, possibly stemming the flow of spec money into the grains sector that we may otherwise be witnessing. The USDA announced the sale of 120,000 MT of US corn to Egypt.

Wheat: Mar 12 CBOT Wheat closed at USD5.92 1/4, down 12 1/2 cents; Mar 12 KCBT Wheat closed at USD6.53, down 20 cents; Mar 12 MGEX Wheat closed at USD8.00 3/4, down 7 3/4 cents. Wheat slumped as the South American weather story stands to benefit it the least of the grains complex. Canada's farm ministry are predicting record ending stocks for 2011/12 and the state of Western Australia is now saying that it has brought in a record crop this year. Competition on the export front for US wheat looks like remaining aggressive for the remainder of the season.