Chicago Beans March Higher
27/06/16 -- Soycomplex: Beans closed sharply higher. Disappointing weekend rains were he catalyst. There's precious little in the forecast for the heart of the Midwest either across the next few days. Export inspections were a seasonally poor 272,066 MT, although the USDA did also report the sale of 150,000 MT of US soybeans to unknown destinations. After the close they cut soybean crop ratings one point in the good to excellent category to 72% (63% last year). They said that 95% of the crop is emerged (91% average) and 9% of the crop is blooming (7% average). Jul 16 Soybeans settled at $11.33, up 30 cents; Nov 16 Soybeans settled at $11.04 3/4, up 26 1/4 cents; Jul 16 Soybean Meal settled at $384.00, up $8.40; Jul 16 Soybean Oil settled at 31.26, up 27 points.
Corn: The market closed little changed. A drier weekend than expected and the forecast for more of the same was supportive. Weaker wheat and lower crude weren't however. There's talk that Russian and Ukraine corn crops are developing well under near ideal conditions. The Russian Ag Min said that they'd exported 4.68 MMT of corn so far this season. The USDA said that 6% of the national corn crop is at the silking stage (5% on average) and left good to excellent crop conditions unchanged at 75%. Export inspections during the week ending last Thursday reached a better than expected 1.451 MMT, up 17.5% week over week, and 39.4% larger than the same week in 2015. It remains to be seen if the current dollar strength starts to eat into these. Ukraine seaports exported 230,600 MT of corn ast week, according to APK Inform. Jul 16 Corn settled at $3.85 1/4, up 3/4 cent; Sep 16 Corn settled at $3.89 1/4, up 1/4 cent.
Wheat: The wheat market finished lower on dollar strength and harvest pressure. The move came despite decent weekly export inspections of 511,701 MT. Whilst western European wheat may be struggling, conditions look better further east. National Bank Ukraine said that the country might harvest 60-61 MMT of grains this year, and in Russia they could bring in a crop even higher than last year it is now thought. They've started harvesting in both countries now, with the Stavropol area of Russia already past the 1 MMT mark, with early yields up 12.5% on last year at 4.42 MT/ha. The USDA FAS in Bulgaria said that the country would harvest in excess of 5 MMT of wheat this year (versus 4.6 MMT last year). Plantings were up 12% and 87% of the crop is currently in good condition, they said. This should facilitate exports in excess of 3 MMT, they added. The USDA said that the winter wheat harvest is 45% done. Spring wheat conditions fell 2 points to 72% G/E. Jul 16 CBOT Wheat settled at $4.46 3/4, down 8 cents; Jul 16 KCBT Wheat settled at $4.12 3/4, down 10 cents; Sep 16 MGEX Wheat settled at $5.14 3/4, down 11 3/4 cents.
