Market News

Soybeans, corn down ahead of holiday weekend

Soybeans were lower on fund and technical selling, ensuring a negative weekly finish. Soybeans were watching the tail end of this year’s harvest in Brazil and conditions in the U.S. ahead of widespread planting. Soybean and bean meal sales were down on the week, while bean oil hit a marketing year high. China and Germany led the way on soybean sales, with a significant cancellation by unknown destinations. The trade’s waiting to see how much of an impact the reimplementation of Argentina’s soy dollar program has on trade, even with a much smaller crop, hit heavily by drought. Soybean meal was mixed on bull spreading. Bean oil ignored the marketing year high for export sales, pressured by a lower move in palm oil ahead of U.S. trade and expectations for strong exports from Indonesia.

Corn was lower on fund and technical selling, closing out the holiday shortened week in the red. Most forecasts have improved planting conditions in parts of the Midwest starting this weekend. Still, parts of the region will see near-term delays and there is a chance for flooding in parts of the region as the snowpack in the northern Plains melts. Dry weather could be an issue for Brazil’s second crop and just 7% of Argentina’s corn is good to excellent. Weekly U.S. export sales were 1.25 million tons, up on the week, but below the average, primarily to China and unknown destinations. The U.S. is expected to hold most of the export market share for the next couple of months, but that could be partially jeopardized in terms of demand from China because of a recent meeting between the U.S. and Taiwan.

The wheat complex was mixed, finishing the week lower. Thursday, ahead of the closure for Good Friday, Kansas City was up on drought in the Plains, Chicago was down on better conditions in the Midwest, and Minneapolis was lower ahead of spring planting, expecting a significant warm-up in the northern Plains. However, there is a significant chance of flooding in the northern Plains delaying planting activity. Russia continues to hold most of the export market with a big price advantage. Weekly U.S. sales were considerably larger than a week ago, but slightly under the average, mostly to China and Taiwan. New crop wheat exports had a slight reduction. Egypt reportedly bought 600,000 tons of wheat from Russia.

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