Soybeans were mostly modestly lower on consolidation, old crop/new crop spread trade and the mixed outside markets. The dollar index was higher while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up and crude oil was mixed. The fundamentals remain supportive and while crop weather does look generally good, there are a lot of concerns about the slow development pace and the potential for an early frost. Also on the bull side, China bought another 165,000 tons of 2009/10 U.S. soybeans ahead of the open. In any event, traders are awaiting the results of the Pro Farmer crop tour, due out Friday. Soybean meal was mixed with nearbys higher on the solid weekly export sales and deferreds lower, following beans. Soybean oil hit seven week lows on the poor weekly sales numbers.
Corn was lower on technical and fund selling, along with profit taking after Wednesday’s slightly higher move. The fundamentals for corn remain neutral to negative, mainly on the large available supply. The good crop weather is mostly bearish, but development rates remain slower than average, increasing concerns over the recent cooler than average temperatures and potential for an early frost. Still, there is a chance for a warm up next week, which would definitely be good for the crop. The Pro Farmer crop tour numbers are out Friday. Ethanol futures were higher. Turkey sold 150,000 tons of corn from state reserves.
The wheat complex was modestly higher on consolidation and oversold signal related technical buying. Contracts pretty much took the path of least resistance Thursday. Fundamentals remain extremely negative with a large world supply and not much fresh demand. That said – Egypt’s recent purchase of U.S. wheat is encouraging, Japan bought 126,000 tons of wheat (44,000 tons U.S. dark northern spring, 42,000 tons U.S. hard red winter, 21,000 tons Australian standard white and 19,000 tons U.S. western white) and South Korea’s Dongah Flour Mills bought 25,000 tons of U.S. milling quality wheat. However, shipments continue to be less than what’s needed to meet the USDA’s export estimate for the 2009/10 marketing year. European wheat was mixed in fairly quiet activity; November Paris was down .6% and November London was up .2%. Statistics Canada is set to issue production estimates Friday. The United Kingdom’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs reported that wheat stocks in England and Wales were more than double the year ago total at 1.1 million tons. Iraq’s Grain Board states that the 2009 wheat crop hit 1.232 million tons, up 96% from 2008′s crop.
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