Chicago Grains Post Modest Gains
17/11/16 -- Soycomplex: Beans closed higher. Weekly export sales came in at the top end of trade expectations. At 1,418,700 MT for 2016/17 these were up 51 percent from the previous week, although still down 23 percent from the prior 4-week stellar average. Total YTD commitments are now running 7.6 MMT ahead of a year ago versus the 3.1 MMT projected seasonal increase from the USDA. Exports this week of 3,034,100 MT were a very impressive (the second highest ever I read) and of course a marketing-year high with China taking 2,363,500 MT of the total. Informa estimated 2017 US soybean plantings at 88.61 million acres versus 88.49 million previously. Weather conditions appear to be improving in Argentina and Brazil. Jan 17 Soybeans settled at $9.89 1/2, up 3 3/4 cents; Mar 17 Soybeans settled at $9.98 1/2, up 4 cents; Dec 16 Soybean Meal settled at $311.50, up $3.10; Dec 16 Soybean Oil settled at 33.70, down 40 points.
Corn: Corn closed around 3 cents or so higher. Weekly export sales of 1,661,000 MT for 2016/17 were up 35 percent from the previous week and 47 percent from the prior 4-week average. Trade estimates had been for sales of only between 900,000 MT and 1.2 MMT. Exports of 540,800 MT were however down 39 percent from the previous week and 31 percent from the prior 4-week average. Commitments to date are running 13.1 MMT ahead of last year compared to the 8.32 MMT y-o-y increase projected by the USDA. The USDA also announced an additional flash sale of 106,200 MT of corn to unknown destinations under the daily reporting system. Informa estimated 2017 US corn plantings at 90.84 million acres from 90.97 million previously. That is is 3.66 million acres lower than the USDA’s current estimate for 2016. In Russia 2016 corn harvesting is said to be 71.6% complete at 11.9 MMT. EU season to date corn imports are running at 3.1 MMT versus 3.6 MMT this time a year ago. Dec 16 Corn settled at $3.42, up 3 1/2 cents; Mar 17 Corn settled at $3.49 3/4, up 3 1/4 cents.
Wheat: Wheat closed with fair gains across the three exchanges. Weekly export sales of 598,400 MT for delivery in marketing year 2016/17 were down 22 percent from the previous week, but up 11 percent from the prior 4-week average. That was at the top end of trade forecasts of 400,000 to 600,000 MT. Exports of 402,000 MT were up 6 percent from the previous week and 12 percent from the prior 4-week average. The primary destinations were Morocco (114,800 MT), Brazil (62,000 MT), South Korea (48,600 MT), Mexico (45,300 MT) and Algeria (31,500 MT). Commitments to date are running 3.94 MMT over a year ago vs the USDA’s projected 5.44 MMT y-o-y increase. Informa lowered their US winter wheat acreage outlook to 33.76 million acres from 35.42 million previously. All wheat plantings will decline approximately 3 million acres they think. Algeria were said to have booked 580,000 MT of optional origin wheat for January delivery, some of which may be US origin and show up in next week's export sales report. Russia said that they'd harvested 75.8 MMT of wheat off 98.1% of the planted area. Dec 16 CBOT Wheat settled at $4.03, up 6 cents; Dec 16 KCBT Wheat settled at $4.08 3/4, up 5 1/4 cents; Dec 16 MGEX Wheat settled at $5.26 3/4, up 8 1/4 cents.