Market News

Soybeans, wheat consolidate, corn gives back some gains

Soybeans were mixed, adjusting spreads and seeing a lack of follow through buying in the nearby months. Forecasts had more mixed rainfall totals across the Midwest and Plains, along with generally hot temperatures in some key growing areas, against more seasonal conditions in others. It’s early, so the trade’s still expecting a big, if not record, crop, and keeping an eye on South America’s impact on exports. Weekly USDA export sales numbers are out Thursday at 8:30 AM Eastern/7:30 AM Central. Soybean meal was up and bean oil was narrowly mixed. Monthly NOPA crush data is also out Thursday. Informa Economics now sees U.S. soybean acreage at 89.4 million.

Corn was lower on profit taking and technical selling, in addition to a lack of follow through after early modestly higher trade. Corn was also watching the weather and the possible heat stress on early stages of growth and development. There’s a lot of uncertainty about acreage totals ahead of the June 30th USDA report. Informa currently has U.S. corn acres at 90.186 million. Ethanol futures were lower. The U.S. Energy Information Administration says ethanol production last week averaged 1.002 million barrels a day, up 3,000 on the week. Stocks were 22.542 million barrels, a week to week increase of 560,000 barrels.

The wheat complex was mixed, consolidating and taking profits after Tuesday’s strength. Minneapolis made more new highs early, but nearby months didn’t follow through with rain in the forecast for parts of the Northern Plains. Deferred Minneapolis contracts were steady to firm. Early harvest reports from Kansas have widely varied yields, supported Kansas City. Chicago, which has the least bullish fundamental argument, was down on profit taking. Egypt bought 180,000 tons of wheat from Russia, along with 60,000 tons from Romania, while Israel picked up 30,000 tons of feed wheat from private sellers and Tunisia purchased 25,000 tons of milling wheat from an unnamed origin. Australia’s Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics estimates 2017/18 wheat production at 24.19 million tons, up from the last guess because of improved growing conditions.