Chicago Grains End Higher On The Day And For The Week
14/10/16 -- Soycomplex: Beans closed higher on the day and for the week, but well off intra session highs heading into the weekend. Weekly export sales came in at the top end of expectations (800 TMT to 1.3 MMT) at 1,417,100 MT for 2016/17, mostly for China (795,800 MT) and unknown destinations (319,000 MT). The NOPA crush report for September will be out Monday, so to will be weekly export inspections. Both could offer the market further support. The average trade estimate for NOPA crush is around 129 million bushels. The Commitment of Traders report shows managed money adding roughly 8,000 contracts to their net long position in beans for the week through to Tuesday night. Nov 16 Soybeans closed at $9.62 1/2, up 6 1/4 cents; Jan 17 Soybeans closed at $9.70 1/4, up 5 1/2 cents; Dec 16 Soybean Meal closed at $300.60, down $1.70; Dec 16 Soybean Oil closed at 34.38, up 100 points. For the week, Nov 16 beans were up 5 3/4 cents.
Corn: Corn closed with decent gains on the day and for the week. Weekly export sales were OK, coming in at 873,400 MT for 2016/2017, down 58 percent from the previous week and 18 percent below the prior 4-week. The average trade guess was for sales of between 700,000 MT and 1.450 MMT. Short-covering has been a major factor this week, pushing prices to highs not seen on a nearby month since July. Managed money was said to have covered in roughly 32,000 lots of their net short position in corn through to Tuesday’s close. They are still net short 130,973 contracts however. FranceAgriMer said that the French 2016 corn harvest is estimated at 23% done, ten points down on this time in 2015. Crop conditions were unchanged at 53% good to very good versus 56% a year ago. In Russia, corn harvesting is said to be 39% complete at 6.1 MMT. Dec 16 Corn closed at $3.54 1/4, up 4 3/4 cents; Mar 17 Corn closed at $3.63 3/4, up 4 1/4 cents. For the week Dec 16 gained 14 1/2 cents.
Wheat: Wheat closed higher on the day and for the week. Weekly export sales of 491,000 MT for delivery in marketing year 2016/17 were up 30 percent from the previous week and 3 percent above the prior 4-week average. Short-covering has also been a major feature in wheat this week, with managed month reducing the size of their net short position in Chicago by around 16k contracts to 135,406 lots as of Tuesday night. Increased export interest, and talk that US wheat is finally becoming more competitive on the international stage is what appears to have got them spooked. Egypt bought 120,000 MT of Romanian and 60,000 MT of Russian milling wheat for delivery Nov 11-20. Algeria have been in the market, reportedly booking 450-500 TMT of optional origin wheat in a tender for 50 TMT. Saudi Arabia are also said to have purchased 595,000 MT of wheat of HRW quality. In Russia wheat harvesting is said to be 97.8% complete at 75.6 MMT. Dec 16 CBOT Wheat closed at $4.21, up 5 cents; Dec 16 KCBT Wheat closed at $4.17 3/4, up 3 3/4 cents; Dec 16 MGEX Wheat closed at $5.28 1/2, down 3 1/2 cents. For the week CBOT wheat was up 26 1/4 cents.
