Soybeans were lower on technical selling and profit taking. Also, the outside markets were mostly bearish with the dollar up and crude oil down. Nearbys did make periodic gains thanks to solid demand. Friday morning, China bought 60,000 tons of old crop U.S. beans along with 350,000 tons of new crop, and Egypt picked 120,000 tons of old crop U.S. beans; Cairo typically buys beans from Argentina but there’s currently a farmer strike. Soybean meal was up and oil was down on product spread trade.
Corn was higher on commercial and fund buying. The near term fundamentals remain solid with a strong cash basis due to the tight supply and good demand. Past that – most near term weather forecasts look hot and dry with little to no rainfall expected in many areas of the Midwest over the next couple of weeks. There’s a chance early next week but that tends to vary depending on the forecast. Ethanol futures were higher. South Korea bought 39,000 tons of corn from India with that origin at a $20 discount to U.S. corn.
The wheat complex was mostly lower on technical selling, profit taking, and spillover from the dollar. The fundamentals remain bearish, especially on the global supply side, and there was no real fresh news. Still, Russia’s weather is a concern with several lower production estimates over the past week. The latest, from SovEcon, pegs the 2012/13 Russian grain crop at 87 million tons, 53 million of that wheat, with wheat for export at 14 million tons. South Korean flour mills passed on a tender for 23,000 tons of U.S. wheat, citing high prices but adding a new tender will be issued next week.
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