CME: Corn Futures Closed Higher Thursday

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CME: Corn Futures Closed Higher Thursday

20 April 2012

US - July Corn finished up 18 at 612, 2 1/2 off the high and 16 3/4 up from the low. December Corn closed up 13 at 541 3/4. This was 12 3/4 up from the low and 2 3/4 off the high.

May corn closed sharply higher on the session as rumors of China buying old crop corn was enough to spark aggressive buying from fund traders.

Talk of the oversold condition of the market and some light weather concerns helped to support the market early in the session. The weekly export sales report showed 300,400 metric tonnes for the current marketing year and cancellations of 2,400 for the next marketing year for a total of 298,000. This was well below trade expectations.

Cumulative corn sales stand at 81.8 per cent of the USDA forecast for 2011/2012 (current) marketing year versus a 5 year average of 78.4 per cent. Sales of 387,000 metric tonnes are needed each week to reach the USDA forecast. Dryness concerns for the northeastern China growing region plus talk that temperatures could dip into the 30's into early next week into Illinois are weather factors which helped to provide underlying support.

After some additional rain into early next week, the Midwest looks to turn warmer and drier and planting weather looks near ideal into next weekend.

Argentina cut its production estimate for the 2011/12 season to just 20.3 million tonnes as compared with 21.1 million as their previous estimate and compared with 21.5 million as the last USDA forecast. July Rice finished down 0.145 at 15.595, 0.055 off the high and equal to the low.

Soybean Futures Closed Higher

May corn closed sharply higher on the session as rumors of China buying old crop corn was enough to spark aggressive buying from fund traders. Talk of the oversold condition of the market and some light weather concerns helped to support the market early in the session.

The weekly export sales report showed 300,400 metric tonnes for the current marketing year and cancellations of 2,400 for the next marketing year for a total of 298,000. This was well below trade expectations. Cumulative corn sales stand at 81.8 per cent of the USDA forecast for 2011/2012 (current) marketing year versus a 5 year average of 78.4 per cent.

Sales of 387,000 metric tonnes are needed each week to reach the USDA forecast. Dryness concerns for the northeastern China growing region plus talk that temperatures could dip into the 30's into early next week into Illinois are weather factors which helped to provide underlying support.

After some additional rain into early next week, the Midwest looks to turn warmer and drier and planting weather looks near ideal into next weekend.

Argentina cut its production estimate for the 2011/12 season to just 20.3 million tonnes as compared with 21.1 million as their previous estimate and compared with 21.5 million as the last USDA forecast. July Rice finished down 0.145 at 15.595, 0.055 off the high and equal to the low.

Wheat Futures Closed Higher

July Wheat finished up 14 1/4 at 630, 2 1/2 off the high and 14 up from the low. December Wheat closed up 12 3/4 at 667 1/4. This was 11 up from the low and 2 3/4 off the high. July wheat closed sharply higher on the session and is already up as much as 23 1/4 cents from yesterday's lows.

The surge higher in the other grains plus talk that funds hold a near record net short position in wheat helped to spark aggressive short-covering and sharply higher trade into the mid-session.

A little colder forecast for the Midwest into the weekend may have helped provide some support as well but it still does not look cold enough far enough south in the central and eastern corn belt to cause damage. Net weekly export sales for wheat, came in at 365,900 metric tonnes for the current marketing year and 76,300 for the next marketing year for a total of 442,200 which was a bit below the range of estimates.

As of April 12th, cumulative wheat sales stand at 97.9 per cent of the USDA forecast for 2011/2012 (current) marketing year versus a 5 year average of 95.0 per cent. Sales of just 81,000 metric tonnes are needed each week to reach the USDA forecast.

The European Union granted export licenses this week for 279,000 tonnes which pushed the total for the marketing year to 11.1 million tonnes as compared with 16.2 million last year.

Traders remain a bit nervous with the weather in parts of eastern Europe into the Urals and northern Kazakhstan. Temperatures in the region were near 35 degrees above normal. July Oats closed up 3 at 325 3/4. This was 3 up from the low and 4 1/4 off the high.