Market News
More losses for corn, soybeans, and wheat
Soybeans were lower on fund and technical selling. The broader market and most ag commodities continued to reel on concerns about coronavirus. A new bond-buying plan from the Federal Reserve did pull trade up from the session’s lows, but that ran its’ course and the Dow Jones Industrial Average had its’ worst session since Black Monday 1987. Weekly soybean sales were a marketing year low following a cancellation by China. China didn’t buy any U.S. soybeans the week before that either. Next weeks numbers could show some improvement though with shipping delays out of Brazil, a four-day strike by ag groups in Argentina protesting higher export taxes, and three announced sales this week to unknown destinations. The Rosario Grain Exchange lowered its’ outlook for Argentina’s crop by 3.5 million tons to 51.5 million because of a lack of rainfall. Soybean meal was mostly lower, March and May were up, the other months were down on spread adjustments, while bean oil followed beans and crude oil lower.
Corn was lower on fund and technical selling. Corn also followed the lead of the broader market and while weekly export sales were solid, hitting a more than two-month high, the overall pace is bearish about halfway through 2019/20. Corn continues to see a lot of competition from South America and Ukraine has also been a big factor. The Rosario Grain Exchange left its’ corn production estimate for Argentina unchanged at 50 million tons. Near-term forecasts for parts of Argentina and Brazil remain dry. Ethanol futures were lower. China and unknown destinations, which might turn out to be China, continue to be significant buyers of U.S. sorghum.
The wheat complex was lower on fund and technical selling. Milling wheat futures in Paris were down sharply heading into the U.S. session and Russian wheat prices were lower, adding to the negativity connected to the losses in the broader market. The trade is also watching planting conditions in Australia ahead of widespread winter wheat planting. Stateside, wheat is watching conditions for winter wheat emerging from dormancy and weather ahead of widespread spring wheat planting in the northern Plains. Weekly export numbers for wheat were also bearish with shipments less than what’s needed to meet projections for the marketing year, which has just under a quarter remaining. Strategie Grains raised its’ soft wheat export outlook for the European Union to 31.2 million tons. DTN says Algeria bought 600,000 tons of milling wheat, Turkey purchased 305,000 tons of wheat, and Tunisia picked up 120,000 tons of milling wheat, all from unnamed origins.