Market News

Soybean, grains under pressure

Soybeans closed lower Monday, in spite of the 393,000 metric ton sale of new crop soybeans.  DTN said trade was higher initially following the USDA announcement of the sale, but prices didn’t hold.  The private crop tour that estimated a 4.09 billion bushel 2016 soybean crop was bearish, but tour scouts had been finding good yields all week, so it should not have been a surprise.  The weekly export inspections were strong.

Corn was lower Monday reacting to a weather forecast that’s friendly for row crops for at least the next ten days.  That’s putting a cap on corn prices in spite of last week’s smaller corn estimate from a private crop tour. Monday corn export inspections were neutral-to-bearish.  Corn was also under pressure because of spillover from wheat.

Wheat closed lower again Monday, continuing what began with a new contract low on Thursday.  Spring wheat harvest weather is good.  DTN says rain is expected in the seven-day forecast, which should help soil moisture for those planting winter wheat next month.  Export inspections of wheat totaled 18.8 million bushels.  That’s neutral-to-bullish and keeps total inspections 27 percent higher than a year ago. Unfortunately it’s not bullish enough to improve wheat prices.