Soybeans were lower on technical selling and profit taking. Fundamentals continue to turn less bullish, if not outright bearish. Early yields from some areas have come in better than expected and the trade sees a big increase in South American planted acreage. Ahead of the September 10 USDA supply and demand revisions, most expectations are for bigger U.S. production estimates. Contracts were higher early on outside market direction and the strength in wheat, but couldn’t follow through. Soybean meal was lower following beans while oil was up on spillover from crude oil. According to a Chinese grain policy center, via Dow Jones Newswires, Beijing may offer a soybean reserve auction this month to help lower soaring domestic prices. USDA’s weekly export sales report is out Thursday at 7:30 AM Central. Soybeans are pegged at 550,000 to 950,000 tons, meal is seen at 75,000 to 325,000 and oil is placed at 0 to 25,000 tons.
Corn was higher on fund and technical buying, in addition to spillover from wheat and the outside markets. The dollar was lower while the Dow and crude oil were both sharply higher. Demand continues to look strong with corn expected to increase its share of the global feed market. Also, there are continued reports of lower than expected yields from some of the big production areas. In general, many in the trade see a downward production revision in the September 10 USDA update. Ethanol futures were higher. Weekly U.S. corn sales are expected to be between 800,000 and 1.5 million tons. The 2009/10 marketing year for corn ended August 31.
The wheat complex was sharply higher on fund and technical buying, along with spillover from the outside markets. The big supportive feature was a pair of significant export sales. Egypt bought 225,000 tons of U.S. wheat, bypassing French wheat which has soared in price this week – additionally U.S. wheat is substantially higher quality than most other origins. Also, Germany picked up 20,000 tons of U.S. hard red spring, its first purchase of non-durum U.S. wheat in 3 years following excessive rain during harvest. Cooperative Bulk Holding Ltd. has Western Australia’s crop at 6 million tons, following drier than average weather during the growing season, and large portions of Argentina remain dry with the Rosario Grain Exchange pegging production at 9 million to 10.5 million tons. The U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization lowered its estimate for Russia to 43 million tons while increasing the U.S. export projection to 31 million to 33 million tons. According to Pakistan’s Ag Ministry, via Dow Jones Newswires, flooding has destroyed not only growing crops but roughly 1.5 million tons of wheat reserves. European wheat was weak, waiting to see how much demand for U.S. wheat will increase; November Paris and November London were both down .1%. Weekly U.S. wheat sales are estimated at 600,000 to 1 million tons.
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