Market News
Wheat up, but still down for the week
Soybeans were lower on fund and technical selling, the third day in a row with losses, putting the cap on a bearish week. Contracts were up early but unable to follow through, expecting at least some increase in U.S. acreage and watching the broader market. During the futures session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was lower following March’s jobs report. Argentina’s harvest is moving forward at 8% complete and Brazil is still exporting a lot of beans, with their Ag Ministry reporting sales of more than 11 million tons in March. The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange did lower their outlook for Argentina’s crop by 2.5 million tons to 49.5 million because of disappointing yields in some areas. The USDA’s next set of supply and demand estimates is out Thursday, April 9th. Soybean meal was lower and bean oil was higher on spread adjustments by commercial traders.
Corn was mixed, mostly firm, on spread adjustments, but still closing lower for the week and moving through what had been support. Corn had an up and down day, unable to stay near the early highs, even with a higher move in crude oil on the tacit agreement by Russia and Saudi Arabia to scale back production. Still, even with the best weekly gain in decades, crude oil has still fallen considerably, impacting ethanol margins to a large extent. China bought 567,000 tons of U.S. corn, with 63,000 tons for this marketing year and 504,000 tons for delivery next marketing year, which starts September 1st. Ethanol futures were mixed. Two South Korea feed mills reportedly bought 66,000 and 62,000 tons of U.S. corn, probably from South America.
The wheat complex was higher on short covering and technical buying, but the three U.S. pits all posted week to week losses, with the biggest drop in May Chicago. Wheat was oversold and due for a bounce, while keeping an eye on dry conditions in parts of the Black Sea region. Russia’s government has confirmed it will limit grain exports to 7 million tons through the end of June. Brazil is reportedly looking for wheat from outside of Argentina, including from the U.S. and Russia. The trade is also watching weather for winter wheat coming out of dormancy and conditions ahead of widespread spring wheat planting. The USDA’s weekly national crop progress and condition reports resume Monday at 4 Eastern/3 Central. DTN says Algeria bought 250,000 tons of milling wheat.
