Market News

Wheat, soybeans lead on weather concerns

Soybeans were sharply higher on commercial and technical buying. November hit a new 2017 high, supported by weather concerns. Near and medium term forecasts have hot temperatures and scattered rain in many areas. The USDA says that as of Sunday, 34% of U.S. soybeans are blooming and 7% are at the pod setting stage, both 2% ahead of their respective five year averages, while 62% of the crop is in good to excellent condition, 3% less than a week ago. Soybean meal and oil followed beans higher on the fundamental implications of a lower yielding crop.

Corn was higher on commercial and technical buying, with December hitting a more than one year high. Corn is also watching the weather, with less threatening conditions expected in eastern parts of the Cornbelt. According to the USDA, 19% of corn is silking, compared to 27% on average, and 65% of the crop is in good to excellent shape, down 3% from last week. New supply, demand, and production numbers are out Wednesday at Noon Eastern/11 AM Central. Ethanol futures were higher.

The wheat complex was sharply higher on commercial and technical buying. Minneapolis was in the lead on concerns about the condition of the spring wheat crop. Chicago and Kansas City followed Minneapolis, watching winter wheat yield and protein results. For winter wheat, 67% of the crop is harvested, compared to 65% typically this time of year. For spring wheat, 79% has headed, compared to 74% on average. 35% of spring wheat is rated good to excellent, another 26% is called fair, and 39% is poor to very poor, up 6% on the week. Egypt bought 115,000 tons of wheat from Russia and Iraq purchased 50,000 tons of milling wheat from Australia.