CME: Corn Futures Closed Lower Wednesday
16 February 2012
US - March Corn finished down 6 1/2 at 627, 11 1/2 off the high and 1 3/4 up from the low.
May Corn closed down 7 at 631. This was 2 up from the low and 11 off the high.
May corn closed moderately lower on the session and pushed to the lowest level since January 24th.
More optimism in Europe helped leave a bullish tilt to outside market forces this morning and a further run higher in soybeans helped to support the corn market early. However, the upside was limited by more soybean/corn spread buying and continued concerns for higher production and ending stocks for the new crop season.
As a result, the market traded in a tight range inside of yesterday's range early and then pushed lower on the day as outside market forces shifted from positive to negative.
South Korea feed makers are in the market for 350,000 tonnes of corn for May-June arrival.
Ethanol production for the week ending February 10th averaged 928,000 barrels per day which was better than expected with many traders looking for a further decline from last week. This was up 0.54% vs. last week and up 3.92% vs. last year.
Total Ethanol production for the week was 6.496 million barrels. Corn used in last week's production is estimated at 98.85 million bushels. Corn use needs to average 94.5 million bushels per week to meet this crop year's USDA estimate.
Stocks were 21.49 million barrels. This is up 2% vs. last week and up 9.8% vs. last year and a new record high. Open interest was up 14,504 contracts yesterday.
For the weekly export sales report, for release in the morning, traders see corn sales near 750,000 tonnes. March Rice finished down 0.04 at 14.345, 0.105 off the high and 0.055 up from the low.
Wheat Closed Lower
March Wheat finished down 9 at 626, 14 1/2 off the high and 1 3/4 up from the low. July Wheat closed down 3 at 646 3/4. This was 3 1/2 up from the low and 7 1/2 off the high.
May wheat closed moderately lower on the session today and pushed to the lowest levels since January 23rd.
The market saw some early buying support for a bounce but selling emerged to pull the market back down to near last week's lows into the mid-session.
Outside market forces were positive to start the session but moves in the dollar and equity markets were tempered into the middle of the session and then turned negative late and this helped pressure grain markets late in the day.
Saudi Arabia is in the market for 330,000 tonnes of hard wheat.
India is allowing state owned entities to export wheat and rice even though there has been no formal announcement.
There is some moisture in the forecast for the next week or more for the southern plains hard red winter wheat area.
For the weekly export sales report, for release in the morning, traders see wheat sales near 525,000 tonnes.
Just after the close, Egypt announced a tender to buy an unspecified amount of wheat. March Oats closed up 1 1/4 at 324 1/2. This was 2 3/4 up from the low and 3 1/2 off the high.
Soybeans Closed Higher
March Soybeans finished up 6 at 1261, 8 off the high and 12 up from the low. May Soybeans closed up 6 1/4 at 1268 3/4. This was 12 1/4 up from the low and 7 3/4 off the high.
March Soymeal closed up 2.7 at 332.8. This was 4.4 up from the low and 2.0 off the high. March Soybean Oil finished up 0.33 at 53.35, 0.09 off the high and 0.57 up from the low.
May soybeans closed moderately higher on the session but well off of the highs.
The early rally pushed the market to the highest level since October 17th as adverse weather in southern Brazil, new buying from China and supportive news from outside market forces helped to support.
Late weakness in equity markets and a turn up in the USD dollar and weakness in the other grains helped to pull the market off of the highs.
Traders are monitoring the situation closely in Santos Brazil after a bulk carrier collided with 4 grain loaders. It will be important to see the loaders actively in use soon in order to avoid significant delays which could cause some business to shift back to the US.
The China National Grains and Oils Information Center revised their import forecast for the 2011/12 season down by 1 million tonnes to 55 million and this compares with the current USDA forecast of 55.5 million tonnes. Private exporters reported a sale of 116,000 tonnes of US soybeans to China for the 2011/12 time frame.
Ideas that the trade delegation from China may also announce new crop sales from the US helped to support the market as well. Traders see further crop losses in southern Brazil for the next 4-5 days as hot and mostly dry weather stresses the crop. This has been partially offset by improving crop conditions for Argentina soybean crops and expectations for further good rain events in Argentina this week.
For the weekly export sales report, for release in the morning, traders see soybean sales near 875,000 tonnes.
TheCropSite News Desk
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