(Brownfield) – Soybeans were higher on commercial and technical buying, along with the higher crude oil. The trade continues to watch harvest results in Argentina and Brazil while waiting for the USDA acreage numbers. Also, Chinese demand remains solid with imports running more than 10% ahead of the year ago pace. According to China’s Ministry of Commerce, February soybean imports were 3,829,500 tons, up sharply on the year with 3,179,725 tons of that U.S. January/February purchases were 8,437,379 tons, up 13%, including 6,275,466 tons from the U.S. Soybean meal was up sharply on talk of demand from South America and bean oil was firm following beans and meal. Weekly U.S. export sales are out Thursday at 7:30 AM Central. Soybeans are pegged at 900,000 to 1.3 million tons, meal is seen at 50,000 to 160,000 tons, and oil sales are placed at 5,000 to 25,000 tons.
Corn was lower on commercial selling and the higher dollar. There was also pressure from U.S. planting activity and increased farmer selling. Still, losses were limited by beans and talk of more demand from China. Ethanol futures were lower. Mexico’s Ag Ministry projects the spring/summer corn crop at 16 million tons, up 7% from 2011 thanks to increased planting in southern growing areas. According to China’s Ministry of Commerce, corn imports for February were 520,671 tons with the year to date total at 1,271,809 tons, both up sharply on the year. Weekly U.S. corn exports are expected to be between 700,000 and 1 million tons.
The wheat complex was lower on technical selling and the higher dollar. There are still some uncertainties about Russia’s grain availability and there are weather concerns for some U.S. wheat growing areas, particularly the dry portions of the hard red winter region. That said – there was no real fresh news, the long term fundamentals remain bearish, and export demand is slow. European wheat was flat with no fresh news. South Korea picked up 23,000 tons of U.S. milling wheat, Oman bought 10,000 tons from Canada, and the United Arab Emirates purchased 30,000 tons of milling wheat from Argentina. Japan is tendering for 133,792 tons of wheat (43,078 tons Canadian western red spring, 32,709 tons Australian standard white, 31,230 tons U.S. hard red winter, and 26,775 tons U.S western white) and Bangladesh issued a tender for 50,000 tons of optional origin wheat. Weekly U.S. wheat sales are estimated at 350,000 to 350,000 tons.
