Market News

Soybeans hold onto gains

Soybeans were higher on fund and commercial buying. Demand remains solid, and there are trade and movement disruptions in Brazil due to strikes by truckers. Still, Brazil’s beans are cheaper than U.S. beans, and South American crop weather looks good. Soybean meal and oil were higher, following beans. China’s New Year holiday has ended, so Beijing may be back in the market for U.S. beans.

Corn was lower on fund and technical selling. Corn also has solid demand and producer selling continues to be fairly light. However, there’s still plenty of corn available and South American development weather also looks good for corn. Ethanol futures were lower.

The wheat complex was mixed, mostly lower. There was early commercial demand sparked by the relatively low price of U.S. wheat and Egypt’s new tender for U.S. wheat. That said – wheat’s overall fundamentals remain bearish, with a large world supply and slow demand for U.S. wheat. South Korea bought 65,000 tons of optional origin feed wheat.