Chicago Closing Comments - Thursday
28/08/14 -- Soycomplex: Beans closed mixed. Weekly export inspections came in at net reductions of 62,800 MT on old crop and net sales of a healthy 1,290,800 MT on new crop. It will come as no surprise to hear that China was the largest buyer on the new crop taking 655,000 MT. The new crop sales beat expectations of 750 TMT to 1.1 MMT. Other news was generally lacking, MDA CropCast left their forecast for the 2014 US soybean crop unchanged from last week at 3.704 billion bushels. There's talk of Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS) popping up in isolated cases in US soybean fields. Sep 14 Soybeans closed at $10.73 3/4, down 12 cents; Nov 14 Soybeans closed at $10.28 3/4, up 5 cents; Sep 14 Soybean Meal closed at $433.20, up $16.70; Sep 14 Soybean Oil closed at 32.64, down 3 points.
Corn: The corn market closed around 4-5 cents higher. Weekly export sales came in at net reductions of 32,700 MT on old crop and net sales of 695,600 MT on the new crop. The latter was in line with trade estimates of 450-750 TMT. MDA CropCast left their estimate for the 2014 US corn crop unchanged from last week at 14.427 billion bushels. South Korea's MFG bought 136,000 MT of optional origin corn for Jan–Feb shipment. South Korea's KOCOPIA seek 55,000 MT of optional origin corn for Jan shipment. China sold 151,132 MT of corn at auction. Brazil are said to be attempting to auction 1.75 MMT of corn today. Firmer wheat markets on the back of the Russian "invasion" of Ukraine added support to corn. Sep 14 Corn closed at $3.61 3/4, up 5 3/4 cents; Dec 14 Corn closed at $3.69 1/4, up 4 1/4 cents.
Wheat: The wheat market closed higher following the news that Russian forces had crossed the border in Ukraine. Nato released satellite images it said showed Russian forces inside Ukraine. Russia denied the reports. That was enough to encourage some nervous short-covering in wheat though. Weekly export sales were "ho hum" at 403,600 MT. Interestingly Brazil took 94,000 MT of that, despite having recently re-introduced the 10% duty on wheat imports from outside the Mercosur trade bloc. MDA CropCast raised their forecast for the EU-28 wheat crop by 510 TMT to 145.3 MMT, a 4.8% rise year-on-year. The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange said that "torrential" rain in Argentina was putting the 2014/15 wheat crop there at risk. Sep 14 CBOT Wheat closed at $5.56 1/2, up 9 1/4 cents; Sep 14 KCBT Wheat closed at $6.35, up 7 cents; Sep 14 MGEX Wheat closed at $6.12, up 1 3/4 cents.
