Chicago Grains Drift Lower On Lack Of News

Posted by Nogger - a legend in his own mind at 13:25 | Categorized as

01/03/15 -- Soycomplex: Beans closed around 2-4 cents lower. Fresh news was scarce, and the path of least resistance is downwards. Harvest pressure is mounting from Brazil. Even though February is not traditionally a big month for Brazil, they still exported more than double the volume of beans shipped out last month than they did in the same period in 2015 (2.04 MMT). The Argentine peso made new record lows against the US dollar, favouring their exports over those from the US. The USDA reported the sale of 140,000 MT of old crop soybeans to unknown under the daily reporting system. Mar 16 Soybeans closed at $8.50 3/4, down 2 1/4 cents; May 16 Soybeans closed at $8.58, down 3 cents; Mar 16 Soybean Meal closed at $258.10, up $1.20; Mar 16 Soybean Oil closed at 30.32, down 32 points.

Corn: The corn market closed mostly a cent or two lower. Fresh news was even lighter for corn than it was for beans. Rusagrotrans said that Russia would export a record 4.6 MMT of corn this season. They shipped out 670,000 MT last month and are expected to move a similar 650,000 MT this month. Total corn exports to the end of February were 2.6 MMMT, leaving a further 2 MMT to go over the remainder of the season. With the Brazilian harvest now well progressed, and the US Outlook Forum behind us, the market will soon start to turn it's attention to US weather and prospects for the 2016 harvest. It's very early days, but extended weather forecasts call for a mild and wet Midwest during June and July, offering little in the way of a threat to early corn plantings. Mar 16 Corn closed at $3.53 3/4, up 1/4 cent; May 16 Corn closed at $3.55 3/4, down 1 1/4 cents.

Wheat: The wheat market closed lower. Australia's ABARES forecast their wheat harvest at 24.5 MMT, up 1% from a year ago. They see exports falling 2% to 17.27 MMT however on increased competition. Australian barley production was forecast 1% higher at 8.6 MMT. The total world wheat crop in 2016/17 was estimated at 710 MMT versus 729 MMT last year. Global wheat plantings were seen down 2 million ha to 221 million, with yields also reduced slightly. Even so, very large carryover stocks from 2015/16 will leave the world with more wheat in terms of total supply than ever before in 2016/17. Without a serious threat to wheat or corn production somewhere major that could remain a millstone around the neck of wheat for some time yet. Mar 16 CBOT Wheat closed at $4.38 1/2, down 6 1/2 cents; Mar 16 KCBT Wheat closed at $4.37, down 8 cent; Mar 16 MGEX Wheat closed at $4.86, down 6 cents.