Market News

Soybeans, corn down on profit taking

Soybeans were lower on profit taking and technical selling. There have been more flooding delays for harvest activity and some crop damage, but many areas are expected to make good progress. Ahead of the open, unknown destinations bought 211,711 tons of 2016/17 U.S. beans and China purchased 133,000 tons, also for 2016/17 delivery. Soybean meal was mixed and bean oil was lower. South American soybean planting is underway and while rainfall it delaying activity in some areas, the precipitation is welcome in most areas.

Corn was lower on profit taking and technical selling. Corn was also focused on harvest activity, also expecting good near term progress in many growing areas. Mexico bought 1,577,340 tons of U.S. corn with 1,036,320 for delivery this marketing year and 541,020 tons for next marketing year. Ethanol futures were lower. The U.S. EIA reports ethanol production for the week ending September 23rd was 989,000 barrels per day, up 8,000 on the week, and stocks came out at 20.578 million barrels, an increase of 572,000. China has added an anti-subsidy tariff of 10% to 10.7% on U.S. DDG imports following last week’s imposition of a 33.8% anti-dumping tax. The Crop Estimates Committee of South Africa projects production at 7.5 million tons, up from the last guess, but down from the year ago total of 9.95 million tons.

The wheat complex was mostly higher with Chicago mixed and Kansas City and Minneapolis up on commercial and technical buying. The supply side is a big bearish factor, but export demand has been good early this marketing year. Some forecasts have a few near term winter wheat planting delays. Japan is tendering for 126,000 tons of food wheat from the U.S. and Canada. According to Russia’s Ag Ministry, this season’s grain harvest is around 88% complete with total collected area ahead of last year’s pace.