Market News

Soybeans up modestly on commercial buying

Soybeans were modestly higher on commercial and technical buying. Argentina has lost beans and while the amount is still unknown, the range of estimates is generally 5% to 15%. Informa currently has Argentina’s crop at 55 million tons, also reducing their outlook for Brazil. For Brazil, FC Stone has lowered its outlook to 96.5 million tons. U.S. planting weather looks good aside from a few planting delays and there’s a long way to go in this growing season. Soybean meal and oil were higher, following beans, with meal getting extra support from the adjustment of product spreads.

Corn was lower on fund and technical selling. Outside of some near term delays, the trade’s expecting good planting progress in many areas this week. Japan bought 107,500 tons of U.S. corn with delivery set for this marketing year. A couple major private firms lowered their South American production estimates this week. FC Stone has Brazil’s second crop at 49.8 million tons, with a total of 77.9 million tons, and Informa lowered their projection by nearly 3 million tons. Informa also reduced its estimate for Argentina slightly. Ethanol futures were steady to weak. The EIA says that for the week ending April 29th, ethanol production averaged 923,000 barrels per day, down 4,000 on the week, with stocks up at 22.201 million.

The wheat complex was mostly higher on commercial and technical buying. The fundamentals remain bearish, but wheat’s seen as a good value. First day results for the Kansas wheat tour had the highest yield since 2012 and second day numbers were also reportedly good. Statistics Canada is scheduled to release updated grain stocks estimates Friday, with Reuters expecting the lowest wheat supply in nearly a decade. The USDA’s ag attaché in Australia projects wheat production at 24 million tons.