Nogger's Blog

14/02/12 -- Soybeans: Mar 12 Soybeans closed at USD12.55, up 3 cents; Nov 12 Soybeans closed at USD12.57 1/2, down 1 1/2 cents; Mar 12 Soybean Meal closed at USD330.10, down USD0.40; Mar 12 Soybean Oil closed at 53.02, down 3 points. Soybeans continue to look the strongest of the three main grains/oilseeds to my mind. Support today came from the USDA announcing the sale of 215,000 MT of soybeans for 2011/12 delivery and 68,000 MT for 2012/13 delivery to unknown. Funds were said to have bought 4,000 soybean contracts on the day.

Corn: Mar 12 Corn closed at USD6.33 1/2, down 6 cents; Dec 12 Corn closed at USD5.64 1/4, down 2 3/4 cents. Weighing on the market was yesterday's USDA baseline forecast of 2012/13 ending stocks almost doubling to 1.623 billion bushels together with production at a record 14.235 billion bushels. Funds sold an estimated 6,000 contracts on the day on the back of that. The USDA see food. seed and industrial usage of corn rising to more than 6 billion bushels in 2012/13 with demand from the ethanol sector also increasing. I wonder if either is achievable.

Wheat: Mar 12 CBOT Wheat closed at USD6.35, down 6 1/4 cents; Mar 12 KCBT Wheat closed at USD6.75 1/2, down 7 3/4 cents; Mar 12 MGEX Wheat closed at USD8.12, down 3 1/2 cents. Funds were said to have sold 2,000 CBOT contracts on the day, as Australia increased the size of it's recently harvested wheat crop, and it's export potential, to all-time highs. The notion that US wheat has finally got itself competitive on the world export stage is however supportive. Russia looks like it's done the majority of it's selling the the first half of the season and Ukraine's exports have never really got going.