Chicago Soybeans Crash

Posted by Nogger - a legend in his own mind at 11:21 | Categorized as

11/05/12 -- Soybeans: May 12 Soybeans closed at USD14.04, down 48 1/4 cents; Nov 12 Soybeans closed at USD13.21 1/4, down 37 3/4 cents; May 12 Soybean Meal closed at USD411.00, down USD12.90; May 12 Soybean Oil closed at 51.90, down 125 points. Extreme volatility continues. On the week overall May 12 beans fell 71 cents and Nov 12 was down 45 1/2 cents. Meal was down USD21.10 and oil shed 140 points. It's been a risk off week despite, for beans, a bullish USDA report yesterday. Crude oil fell to its lowest levels of the year on dollar strength and weak Chinese economic data. Funds were sellers across all of the grains today, shedding an estimated 12,000 soybean contracts on the day. The Commitment of Traders Report shows large funds liquidating around 23,000 of their length in the week through to Tuesday. The USDA announced the sale of 139,500 MT of already tight old crop soybeans to unknown, but even that couldn't stem the tide today.

Corn: May 12 Corn closed at USD6.08, down 17 1/2 cents; Dec 12 Corn closed at USD5.05 1/4, down 2 cents. On the week May 12 corn lost 54 1/4 cents and Dec 12 declined 19 cents. The last time Dec was this low was Feb 2011. Funds were said to have been net sellers of around 10,000 corn contracts on the day, ignoring news of the sale of 300,000 MT of corn to "unknown" - 60,000 MT for 2011/12 delivery and 240,000 MT for 2012/13 delivery. News that the largest bank in America had lost "at least" USD2 billion on derivatives trading that was supposed to be a hedge against economic risk unnerved the market to say the least. Favourable US weather and early plantings weigh on new crop.

Wheat: May 12 CBOT Wheat closed at USD5.92 3/4, down 2 cents; May 12 KCBT Wheat closed at USD6.01, down 8 1/2 cents; May 12 MGEX Wheat closed at USD7.41 1/4, up 11 1/4 cents. On the week overall Chicago wheat was down 11 cents, Kansas down 12 3/4 cents and Minneapolis was 1 1/4 cents higher. New crop Jul 12 Chicago wheat closed below USD6/bu for the first time in the contracts lifespan today. Funds were said to have been net sellers of around 3,000 Chicago contracts on the day. The US winter wheat harvest will soon be going full throttle, with the USDA yesterday estimating that crop at 1.7 billion bushels yesterday, an increase of 13% on last year.