Soybeans Collapse On Solar Panel Worries!

Posted by Nogger - a legend in his own mind at 10:38 | Categorized as

18/05/12 -- Soybeans: Jul 12 Soybeans closed at USD14.05, down 33 cents; Nov 12 Soybeans closed at USD12.88, down 18 1/2 cents; Jul 12 Soybean Meal closed at USD417.90, down USD10.10; Jul 12 Soybean Oil closed at 50.32, down 40 points. The end result of a very volatile week, astoundingly, is that front month soybeans closed the week within a penny of where they began it. Nov 12 beans were down 33 1/4 on the week, meal rose USD6.00 and oil fell 158 points. Beans seemed to lose out today to unwinding of spreads with funds selling an estimated 7,000 soybean contracts, whilst being featured buyers of corn and wheat. Here's a new one for you, Chinese solar panels may have been partly to blame for some of today's declines. Yes, some newswires are reporting that today's selling in soybeans may have been linked to a US move to suddenly introduce a 30% import duty on Chinese solar panels, which they say are being unfairly dumped on the US market. A Chinese Ministry spokesperson said: "The US decision lacks fairness and China expresses its strong displeasure." China of course is far and away the largest home for US soybean exports.

Corn: Jul 12 Corn closed at USD6.35 1/2, up 10 1/2 cents. Dec 12 Corn closed at USD5.37, up 8 3/4 cents. Funds were said to have bought around 11,000 corn contracts on the day, so due to unwinding of long soybeans/short corn spreads. Corn also derived spillover support from soaring wheat prices this week. For the week overall nearby corn gained 27 1/2 cents, with new crop Dec 12 up 31 3/4 cents. Some pundits are already trying to get a US weather market going, with calls for a warmer and drier outlook for the next ten days being behind some of today's strength. Meanwhile Iowa, Illinois and Indiana may be in for their third warmest May since 1895, according to T-Storm Weather.

Wheat: Jul 12 CBOT Wheat closed at USD6.95 1/4, up 37 1/2 cents; Jul 12 KCBT Wheat closed at USD7.05, up 33 cents; Jul 12 MGEX Wheat closed at USD7.92, up 24 3/4 cents. Chicago wheat jumped more than a dollar this week to post a 17% gain compared with last Friday. Kansas wheat was also up more than a dollar, with Minneapolis gaining over 50 cents. Funds were estimated to have covered in around 10,000 of their short position in Chicago wheat today. Jul 12 Chicago wheat managed to post its highest close on the weekly chart since the first week of November. Weather concerns around the world, including on the southern Plains, have spooked funds into closing out some of their shorts in Chicago wheat this week.