Market News

Soybeans, corn up ahead of quarterly stocks report

 

Soybeans were higher on short covering and commercial buying. Contracts bounced back from Monday’s losses, while watching harvest activity and getting ready for Wednesday’s USDA numbers. Quarterly stocks are expected to be above year ago levels. The report is out at Noon Eastern/11 AM Central. It was a year ago the USDA had a very bullish surprise for soybeans, so another one this year isn’t completely out of the question. Soybean meal and oil were modestly higher, following beans. The USDA Thursday will report on domestic soybean crushing for the first time in several years. Ahead of the report, analysts expect the U.S. crush for August 2015 to be around 142 million bushels. Friday, Statistics Canada will issue new crop estimates. Canola is projected at 14.5 million tons, compared to 13.343 million in August and soybeans are estimated at 5.8 million tons, compared to 5.856 million in the previous report.

Corn was higher on short covering and commercial buying. Corn’s also watching harvest activity and getting squared up for the USDA report. There have been some harvest delays, but overall, traders don’t seem that concerned yet. On average, quarterly corn stocks are expected to be larger than last year. Ethanol futures were lower. Friday, Statistics Canada is expected to have a 2015 corn production estimate around 12.3 million tons, which would be unchanged from August.

The wheat complex was lower on fund and technical selling, finishing an up and down day in the red. Quarterly wheat stocks should be above a year ago, while the production estimate may be slightly less than a month ago. The market’s also keeping an eye on dry weather in parts of Australia. On Friday, Statistics Canada’s new all wheat estimate is expected to be around 25.1 million tons, compared to 24.625 million in August, with durum at 4.7 million tons, compared to 4.467 million in the prior update. Japan is tendering for 128,500 tons of U.S., Canadian, and Australian wheat.