Chicago Closing Comments - Tuesday

Posted by Nogger - a legend in his own mind at 08:37 | Categorized as

03/04/12 -- Soybeans: May 12 Soybeans closed at USD14.16 3/4, down 4 1/4 cents; Nov 12 Soybeans closed at USD13.78 3/4, down 6 1/2 cents; May 12 Soybean Meal closed at USD386.50, down USD4.70; May 12 Soybean Oil closed at 55.90, down 26 points. Beans traded both sides but settled slightly lower in light consolidation from recent steep gains that pushed them to seven month highs. Funds were said to have been net sellers of around 5,000 soybean contracts on the day. The Rosario Grains Exchange cut it's forecast for Argentine soybean production by 1.4 MMT from last month to 43.1 MMT. That's the lowest number in the market yet and 3.4 MMT below the USDA's March estimate. Agroconsult peg Brazil's crop down 13% from last year at 65.69 MMT and 2.8 MMT below the USDA.

Corn: May 12 Corn closed at USD6.58 1/4, up 3 1/4 cents; Dec 12 Corn closed at USD5.45 1/2, up 1/2 cent. The gap between old and new crop widened a little bit further. Funds stepped in for an estimated 12,000 of mostly old crop corn contracts on the day, according to floor estimates. The Rosario Grains Exchange cut their Argentine corn crop estimate to 19.7 MMT, down 2.3 MMT on the USDA's latest forecast and way below the 29.0 MMT expected from them as recently as December. Informa Economics suggested that US corn acres could rise even higher than last week's forecast 95.9 million from the USDA, saying that 96.4 million was a possibility.

Wheat: May 12 CBOT Wheat closed at USD6.58, up 1 cent; May 12 KCBT Wheat closed unchanged at USD6.90; May 12 MGEX Wheat closed at USD8.50 1/4, up 1 cent. Wheat also traded both sides today with funds buying an estimated 3,000 Chicago contracts on the day. US winter wheat is in much better condition than last year at 58% good/excellent, and spring wheat plantings are off to a great start at 8% complete as of Sunday. US wheat looks competitively priced relative to other origins. Europe's wheat crop looks like coming in lower than early season hopes following the winter drought, with crop losses in Spain particularly bad where Coceral see soft wheat production down 29%.