Chicago Close

28/01/11 -- Soybeans

March soybeans closed down 1 3/4c at USD13.97 3/4 a bushel; March soymeal traded USD0.40 lower at USD377.00; March soyoil ended 14 points lower at 57.27. Beans were sharply higher in early trade but failed to hold onto those gains on profit-taking. Traders seemed unwilling to sit on longs over the weekend with North Africa in political turmoil, which has also now spread to Yemen. Private exporters announced the sale of 110,000 MT of old crop soybeans to China.

Corn

March corn finished down 6 3/4c at USD6.44 a bushel. May corn finished down 6 1/2c at USD6.54 1/2 a bushel. The market looked a little tired heading into the weekend after hitting 30-month highs a week ago. Private exporters announced the sale of 151,638 MT of corn to Japan. The recent arrival of wetter weather for Argentina may have come too late for corn is what many are saying. A flurry of feed wheat sales for Australia of late though indicates that corn can't have things all it's own way on the international export stage.

Wheat

CBOT March wheat plunged 20 1/2c to USD8.25 3/4 a bushel; KCBT March wheat fell 20 1/2c to USD9.12; MGEX March wheat lost 14 1/2c to USD9.61 1/2. Wheat seems to be giving up some of it's recent gains propelled it to 29 month highs. Profit-taking ahead of an "anything can happen" weekend in North Africa, particularly in Egypt, took some money off the table. Recent excitement that the Arab world's most populous nation will follow the lead of neighbouring Algeria and Tunisia and step up it's wheat purchases is now giving way to caution that the opposite may be true if the government faces overthrow.