Chicago Grains Close - Monday
22/08/16 -- Soycomplex: Beans closed higher. The USDA reported 120,000 MT of soybeans sold for delivery to unknown destinations during the 2016/17 marketing year under the daily reporting system. Underlining the strong export demand theme were weekly export inspections of 961,414 MT, up nearly 20% from last week and 4.5 times larger than the same week a year ago. They also reported good to excellent crop conditions unchanged at 72% after the close (63% last year). They said that 89% of the crop is setting pods which is 4 points ahead of the 5-year average. The trade prefers to focus on the demand side of the coin rather than the potential record production side at the moment. Sep 16 Soybeans settled at $10.35 1/4, up 8 1/4 cents; Nov 16 Soybeans settled at $10.15 3/4, up 11 1/4 cents; Sep 16 Soybean Meal settled at $334.20, up $4.20; Sep 16 Soybean Oil settled at 33.89, down 25 points.
Corn: The market closed a wee bit lower despite weekly export inspections of 1.249 MMT being up 6% from last week and up 29% vs the same week a year ago. Day one of the ProFarmer crop tour in Ohio and South Dakota saw lower yields than the USDA estimate, but that's what the trade expected. The USDA raised corn crop conditions one point in the good to excellent category to 75%. They said that 85% of the crop is at the dough stage (76% normally) and the the crop is 40% dented as opposed to 35% for the 5-year average. MARS lowered their forecast for the EU-28 average corn yield to 7.23 MT/ha from 7.42 MT/ha. Yields are seen sharply lower in some countries (eg Romania), but this is compensated for by significantly higher yields in others like Hungary. Sep 16 Corn settled at $3.33 1/4, down 1 cent; Dec 16 Corn settled at $3.42 1/2, down 1 1/4 cents.
Wheat: The wheat market closed mixed with Minneapolis spring wheat again the firmest market. Weekly export inspections of 530,824 MT were OK, and about what the trade had in mind. Weekly crop progress has this year's US spring wheat crop 65% harvested against only 46% normally at this time. MARS lowered EU soft wheat yields from the 6.10 MT/ha estimated last month to 5.86 MT. mainly down to an 11% cut for France "due to knock-on effects of large rainfall amounts, low radiation and consequent high disease pressure during late May and June." Russia's harvest is going well, producing a grain crop of over 80 MMT so far including 57.5 MMT of wheat. Russian seaports only exported 406.8 TMT of grains last week though, down from 716.6 TMT the previous week, according to APK Inform. Sep 16 CBOT Wheat settled at $4.15 1/4, down 11 3/4 cents; Sep 16 KCBT Wheat settled at $4.13 3/4, down 5 cents; Sep 16 MGEX Wheat settled at $5.32, up 1 1/4 cents.
