Chicago Beans End Higher, But Other Grains Mostly Lower
27/10/15 -- Soycomplex: Beans closed higher in typical Turnaround Tuesday trade. Fresh news was scarce. Good demand for meal adds support for beans. South Korea's MFG were said to have bought 120,000 MT of optional origin meal for May shipment. There's talk that the Philippines has bought 55,000 MT of US meal for March shipment. Cuba were said to have bought US meal yesterday. The market must wait until December for a run-off in the Presidential elections in Argentina. That may keep farmers there sitting on their hands a little while longer yet. The Argentine Ag Ministry report growers to be 73% sold on their 2014/15 soybean crop versus 66% a year ago. On new crop they are said to be only a little over 1% sold. Planting of new crop is just about underway. Indonesia is said to be debating putting a 10% import tariff on soybeans. Nov 15 Soybeans closed at $8.91 1/4, up 6 1/4 cents; Jan 16 Soybeans closed at $8.91, up 6 1/2 cents; Dec 15 Soybean Meal closed at $304.70, up $2.50; Dec 15 Soybean Oil closed at 27.89, up 11 points.
Corn: The corn market closed around 3-4 cents lower, also in "Turnaround Tuesday" style, essentially reversing yesterday's gains. There are reports of a Brazilian corn cargo being en route to the US east coast, which leans bearish coming as it does right in the middle of the harvest. The Argentine Ag Ministry said growers there are 78% sold on old crop corn versus 82% a year ago. On new crop they are said to be 2% sold, about the same as a year ago. Ukraine said that their 2015 corn harvest was 70% complete on 2.86 million ha for a crop of 14.78 MMT to date. That suggests that the current USDA estimate for a final harvest of 25 MMT is still way too high. They are however switching their export efforts to corn, which accounted for 46% of exports via seaports last week, compared to wheat's 34% market share. In contrast, in Russia, corn only accounted for little more than 4% of exports via seaports last week. The EU Commission's MARS unit increased their forecast for corn yields there this year to 6.47 MT/ha, although that's still more than 20% down on a year ago. Dec 15 Corn closed at $3.80, down 4 1/2 cents; Mar 16 Corn closed at $3.89 3/4, down 3 3/4 cents.
Wheat: The wheat market closed mostly lower, consolidating a little on yesterday's impressive gains. The USDA confirmed that the newly planted US winter wheat crop hasn't got off to a great start, pegging only 47% of the crop as good to excellent last night. There are worries too that winter wheat in Ukraine and Russia is poorly established due to persistent dryness, and not greatly equipped to cope with the typically harsh FSU winter. Winter grain planting in Ukraine is said to be 1 million ha behind where it was in each of the last 2 years at just over 6 million ha, or 82% of the original government target. Wheat is said to be 84% planted, and barley only 61% done. Things are a bit more advanced in Russia, but it's the condition of what has been sown that is causing concern. Russian seaports exported 447.7 TMT of grains last week of which 88.5% was wheat. Syria bought 200,000 MT of soft milling wheat in a tender. Jordan are in the market for 100,000 MT of hard wheat. Argentine growers are said to be fully sold on old crop wheat and 3% committed on new crop. Dec 15 CBOT Wheat closed at $5.09 1/4, up 1/4 cent; Dec 15 KCBT Wheat closed at $4.88, down 4 1/4 cents; Dec 15 MGEX Wheat closed at $5.15 3/4, down 4 3/4 cents.