Chicago Close - Monday
14/11/16 -- Soycomplex: Beans closed slightly lower, save for the expiring Nov 16 which was down 7 1/2 cents as it went off the board. The USDA announced the sales of 324,000 MT of US soybeans for delivery to China and 132,000 MT of US soybeans for delivery to unknown destinations during the 2016/17 marketing year under the daily reporting system. Weekly export inspections were strong again at 2.785 MMT. "This puts season to date loadings 2.76 MMT over the prior year compared to the 3.1 MMT projected by the USDA for the entire marketing year period," noted FCStone. NOPA’s October crush report will be out tomorrow. The USDA said that this year's soybean harvest was 97% complete, 2 points ahead of the 5-year average. Nov 16 Soybeans settled at $9.71, down 7 1/2 cents; Jan 17 Soybeans settled at $9.84 1/4, down 1 3/4 cents; Dec 16 Soybean Meal settled at $309.90, up $2.10; Dec 16 Soybean Oil settled at 33.95, down 49 points.
Corn: Corn closed around 3-4 cents weaker. Interestingly the USDA reported the sale of 175,000 MT of grain sorghum for delivery to China during the 2016/17 marketing year. Weekly export inspections were poor at 618 TMT versus trade forecasts of around 1 MMT. "Loadings to date are running 4.9 MMT ahead of a year ago versus the 8.32 MMT yoy increase projected by the USDA," noteCStone. "Factoring a normal seasonality of corn loadings in the balance of the year this implies the US is 2.4 mmt or 95 mln bushels behind pace to meet the 2225 number from the USDA," they added. The USDA placed the 2016 US corn harvest at 95% complete, up from 86% a week ago and versus 92% done for the 5-year average. APK Inform said that Ukraine seaports only exported 463.3 TMT of grains last week. That included 287.3 TMT of corn. Russia's seaports exported 151.3 TMT of corn last week. Ukraine's corn harvest is 74% complete at 19.4 MMT. Russia's is 69.1% complete at 11.4 MMT. It is reported that South Korea bought 63 TMT of optional origin corn at a tender that closed today. Dec 16 Corn settled at $3.37 1/4, down 3 cents; Mar 17 Corn settled at $3.45 1/4, down 3 3/4 cents.
Wheat: Wheat closed lower. Weekly export inspections of only 191 TMT were very poor indeed. Expectations were around the 500 TMT mark. Loadings to date are running 2.7 MMT above a year ago compared to projected annual increase of 5.44 MMT, said FCStone. Russia's exports are slowing, but the US isn't seeing any benefit of this yet. Russia's wheat exports in October were only 1.99 MMT, some 46% down on September and 26.5% lower than they were a year previously. The USDA reported winter wheat planting at 93% done, up just 2 points in a week and 2 points behind the 5-year average. Emergence was placed at 85% versus 79% a week ago and 84% on average at this time. Russia said that it's wheat harvest was 98.1% done at 75.8 MMT in bunker weight. Algeria tendered for 50,000 MT of optional origin milling wheat but are expected to buy much more. Dec 16 CBOT Wheat settled at $3.94, down 9 cents; Dec 16 KCBT Wheat settled at $4.02 3/4, down 7 1/2 cents; Dec 16 MGEX Wheat settled at $5.12, down 8 cents.