Chicago Grains Close Monday
15/08/16 -- Soycomplex: Soybeans closed with decent gains as the trade focuses on the demand side of the WASDE equation rather than the record US supply side. Weekly US soybean export inspections were 746,371 MT - smaller than a week ago, but still almost double the amount inspected during the same week a year ago. Very strong demand from China in recent weeks underpins, although there were no announcements under the daily reporting system today. The USDA pegged soybean crop conditions unchanged at 72% good to excellent. They said that 95% of the crop is blooming (93% on average) and 80% setting pods (75% on average). The NOPA crush report for July came in at 143.715 million bu which was lower than the 146.7 million expected. Sep 16 Soybeans closed at $10.23 3/4, up 24 3/4 cents; Nov 16 Soybeans closed at $10.09 1/3, up 27 1/2 cents; Sep 16 Soybean Meal is at $339.60, up $7.10; Sep 16 Soybean Oil is at 33.21, up 118 points.
Corn: The corn market closed 3-4 cents higher. The trade doesn't seem to believe that the USDA's 175 bu/acre yield estimate from Friday will come true. Weekly export inspections came in at 1.172 MMT which is about what was expected. The USDA left corn crop conditions unchanged at 74% good to excellent, although there was a 1 point switch from VG into E. They said that 73% of the crop is at the dough stage (60% typically at this time) and that the crop is 21% dented, which is in line with the 5-year average. The Brazilian government are said to be planning to rebuild their strategic corn stockpiles back to 2.0 to 2.3 MMT in 2017. That would help keep corn supplies there tight. Russia said that they'd exported 158.5 TMT of corn Jul 1 to Aug 10. Ukraine seaports shipped out 14.9 TMT of corn last week and Russian seaports nil as they both await the arrival of new crop supplies. Sep 16 Corn closed at $3.26 1/2, up 4 1/4 cents; Dec 16 Corn closed at $3.37, up 4 cents.
Wheat: The wheat market closed mixed across the three exchanges. Weekly export inspections of 625,154 MT were more than 50% larger than last week. The USDA has the 2016 US winter wheat harvest at 97% complete versus 95% normally at this time. Spring wheat is 48% harvested against 30% normally. Spring wheat crop conditions fell 2 points in the good to excellent category to 66%. There are some questioning the FSU's ability to export the kind of volumes of wheat that the USDA predicted on Friday, with much depending on the weather and logistical issues across the depths of their winter. Syria are reported to be tendering for 1 MMT of Russian wheat. Ukraine said that their seaports shipped out 413.1 TMT of wheat last week and Russia's exported 634.4 TMT. The 2016 Russian grain harvest is said to be 46.4% complete at 72.7 MMT. Sep 16 CBOT Wheat closed at $4.22, down 1/2 cents; Sep 16 KCBT Wheat closed at $4.11 3/4, down 4 1/2 cents; Dec 16 MGEX Wheat closed at $5.15 1/4, up 1 1/2 cents.
