Chicago Close - Tuesday

Posted by Nogger - a legend in his own mind at 09:13 | Categorized as

01/05/12 -- Soybeans: May 12 Soybeans closed at USD14.97 3/4, down 5 1/4 cents; Nov 12 Soybeans closed at USD13.92 1/2, up 11 1/2 cents; May 12 Soybean Meal closed at USD432.50, down USD1.80; May 12 Soybean Oil closed at 54.52, down 14 points. New crop gained on old crop as demand remains strong going forward with the USDA reporting the sale of 110,000 MT of beans to China for 2012/13 delivery. The rapid corn planting progress being made by US farmers is seen as bullish for new crop soybeans. South American analyst Michael Cordonnier estimated the Argentine soybean crop at 40.0 MMT versus his previous estimate of 41.5 MMT. Ne also dropped his Brazilian soybean estimate from 66 MMT to 65 MMT. Funds were said to have been net sellers of 2,000 soybean contracts on the day.

Corn: May 12 Corn closed at USD6.59 3/4, down 1/2 cent; Dec 12 Corn closed at USD5.38 3/4, down 4 1/2 cents. Funds were estimated to have sold around 9,000 corn contracts on the day. Cordonnier estimated the Argentine corn crop at 19.0 MMT versus his previous estimate of 20.0 MMT. He did however raise his Brazilian estimate from 59 MMT to 61 MMT thanks to higher plantings and hope for a better yield from second crop corn. Informa estimate Argentine corn production at 22 MMT and Brazilian output at 62 MMT. The USDA said that US growers made rapid progress with corn plantings last week, getting a quarter of the crop into the ground in a single week. Illinois has 79% of their corn crop planted versus 29% for the 5 year average. That put pressure on new crop. Emergence is well ahead of normal also, raising the prospect of a needed early harvest this year.

Wheat: May 12 CBOT Wheat closed at USD6.33 3/4, down 14 cents; May 12 KCBT Wheat closed at USD6.45 1/2, down 3 3/4 cents; May 12 MGEX Wheat closed at USD7.67, down 11 1/4 cents. Wheat followed corn lower. The USDA confirmed that 110,000 MT of the weekend Saudi business was US origin HRW wheat. Apart from that there was little supportive news. There's a Kansas wheat starting today which concludes Thursday. Early news from that is of much better yield potential than last year. Winter wheat crop conditions have improved to 64% good to excellent, up 1% from a week ago and well ahead of 34% a year ago. Spring wheat planting is more than double the normal pace at 74% complete. Maturity of both crops is also well ahead of normal, pointing to an early winter wheat harvest and giving spring wheat the maximum amount of time to produce a decent yield.