Chicago Markets Mostly Higher To Start The Week

17/10/16 -- Soycomplex: Beans closed higher on strong demand. Weekly export inspections of over 2.5 MMT were impressive and around 1 MMT more than the trade expected. YTD inspections for the 2016/17 marketing year are running nearly 15% larger than they were a year ago. The NOPA soybean crush was also slightly over expectations at 129.405 million bushels. Firmer Malaysian palm oil levels also lent some support. Harvest pressure is still out there though. The USDA reported this year's US soybean harvest at 62% done versus 63% typically at this time. Crop conditions were unchanged at 74% good to excellent. EU rapeseed futures hit their highest levels since July 2015 on lower production and worries over the Canadian canola harvest being delayed by snow. Nov 16 Soybeans settled at $9.78 1/4, up 15 3/4 cents; Jan 17 Soybeans settled at $9.86, up 15 3/4 cents; Dec 16 Soybean Meal settled at $303.50, up $2.90; Dec 16 Soybean Oil settled at 35.44, up 106 points.

Corn: The market closed narrowly mixed. Weekly export inspections of 875,808 MT were up nearly 77% from the same week last year, but down almost 25% from last week’s total. Inspections of around 1.0-1.2 MMT were expected. Still, YTD inspections are up 79.5% versus a year ago. The USDA reported US corn crop conditions up 1 points to 74% good to excellent. Harvesting was estimated at 46% done versus 49% for the 5-year average and trade ideas of 48-50% complete. Maturity is 97% versus 94% on average. IMEA estimated that the safrinha corn area in Brazil's Mato Grosso state will be unchanged this year at 4.24 million ha,. They see yields returning to "normal", up 23%, with a similar percentage increase in production to 23.2 MMT. Ukraine's 2016/17 corn exports are only just starting. The country's seaports shipped out 126.5 TMT of corn last week, according to APK Inform. Russian seaports exported 101.5 TMT of corn last week. Dec 16 Corn settled at $3.54, down 1/4 cent; Mar 17 Corn settled at $3.64, up 1/4 cent.

Wheat: The wheat market pressed on to new highs on further short-covering but is starting to look a little tired. Weekly export inspections of 450,613 MT were about what the market was expecting, but much better than 206 TMT a year ago. Saudi Arabia were reported to have bought 610 TMT of wheat in their tender originally reported as 595 TMT last week. Algeria were said to have booked 480 TMT. The Russian 2016 grain harvest was reported at 93.1% complete, putting 115.8 MMT in the bins so far. Wheat harvesting is said to be 97.9% complete at 75.6 MMT. Winter plantings of mostly wheat are reported to be 89.1% complete on 15.5 million ha. The USDA reported US winter wheat plantings at 72% complete (73% for the 5-year average). Emergence is at 47% (versus 45% on average). Russian seaports exported 637.4 TMT of grain last week (up from only 325.9 TMT the previous week) of which 526.8 TMT was wheat. Ukraine seaports exported 506 TMT of grain, of which 244.1 TMT was wheat. Dec 16 CBOT Wheat settled at $4.23 3/4, up 2 3/4 cents; Dec 16 KCBT Wheat settled at $4.22, up 4 1/4 cents; Dec 16 MGEX Wheat settled at $5.29, up 1/2 cent.