Chicago Close - Tuesday

Posted by Nogger - a legend in his own mind at 10:21 | Categorized as

13/12/16 -- Soycomplex: Beans closed lower on news that the Chinese government had ordered six plants to temporarily halt crushing operations in order to curb air pollution. Argentina is said to be 58% planted, behind 64% normally, with more dry weather in the forecast. Coceral forecast the EU-28 2016 rapeseed crop at 20 MMT versus 22.4 MMT in 2015. IMEA say that growers in Brazil's Mato Grosso state are 47.5% forward sold versus 55.4% a year ago. There were no announcements from the USDA under the daily reporting system today. Jan 17 Soybeans settled at $10.28, down 3 cents; Mar 17 Soybeans settled at $10.39 1/2, down 3 cents; Dec 16 Soybean Meal settled at $313.50, down $1.30; Dec 16 Soybean Oil settled at 36.57, down 19 points.

Corn: The market closed with small gains. Ethanol, which rose to two year highs yesterday, is keeping US demand solid. US production has been above 1 million barrels/day for the last six weeks. Ethanol cash margins are very attractive, averaging over $1/bu in the Midwest. The latest numbers from the US Energy Dept are out tomorrow. Argentina is said to be 48% planted on new crop corn. Some analysts are already starting to scale down their estimates for Argentine corn production this year. Coceral estimated EU-28 2016 corn output up 3.4% at 60.7 MMT. US growers are said to be "shutting up shop" ahead of adverse weather conditions rolling in and the Christmas break. Dec 16 Corn settled at $3.56 1/4, up 1 3/4 cents; Mar 17 Corn settled at $3.61, up 1/2 cent.

Wheat: The wheat market closed mixed. Fresh news was limited. Coceral forecast the EU-28 soft wheat crop at 134.7 MMT, up slightly on their previous estimate but still 11.5% down on 152.1 MMT a year ago. Tunisia are tendering for 92,000 MT of soft wheat, and 50,000 MT of durum, and the Philippines tendered for 56,000 MT of feed wheat. Forecast cold weather for the US Plains is getting some attention from the shorts, with snow cover scarce in many places. Russia and Ukraine are also in for a cold snap that has Rusagrotrans lowering their estimate for Russia's grain exports this month from 3.8 MMT to 3.45 MMT. UkrAgroConsult trimmed the Russian barley crop 600 TMT to 18.4 MMT. Dec 16 CBOT Wheat settled at $3.98, down 3 1/4 cents; Dec 16 KCBT Wheat settled at $3.99 1/4, up 1 3/4 cents; Dec 16 MGEX Wheat settled at $5.40 3/4, down 1 cent.