Solid daily, weekly gains for corn, soybeans, wheat

Market News

Solid daily, weekly gains for corn, soybeans, wheat

Soybeans were higher on commercial and technical buying, with nearby months gaining back more than $.50 of the previous week’s losses. The harvest in Brazil is still slower than average because of rain in some areas and the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange cut their estimate for Argentina this week by a half million tons to 46 million. AgResource estimates Brazil’s crop at 128 million tons, 5 million less than the USDA’s most recent guess, with the next official estimate out February 9^th. A truck strike in Brazil is set to get underway Monday. China bought 132,000 tons of new crop U.S. beans. Soybean meal and oil were mixed, mostly higher, on commercial spread adjustments.

Corn was higher on commercial and technical buying, posting sharp weekly gains as well. China bought 2.108 million tons of old crop U.S. corn, the second largest single purchase on record, for a weekly total of 5.848 million tons, just old crop, just to China. That doesn’t include the new crop sales or sales to unknown destinations, which could turn out to be China when it’s time for delivery. Corn is also monitoring conditions in Argentina and Brazil, especially the rain delaying the soybean harvest in Brazil, which pushes back second crop corn planting. Additionally, corn is keeping an eye on U.S. conditions ahead of spring planting. The USDA’s prospective planting numbers are out March 31^st, along with quarterly grain stocks. Ethanol futures were higher.

The wheat complex was higher on commercial and technical buying, with all three exchanges posting strong gains for the week. The trade is waiting for Russia’s export tax to start February 15^th and double March 1^st, and there’s talk Argentina could limit sales. Buenos Aires tried to suspend the corn export registry earlier in the year, but it was quashed by export groups. There are continued concerns about expanding drought conditions in the U.S. Plains, weather issues in parts of the eastern Midwest, and dry conditions in parts of the northern U.S. Plains ahead of spring wheat planting. DTN says Taiwan bought 85,340 tons of U.S. milling wheat.