(Agriculture.com) – On Thursday, the CME Group’s choppy trading ended lower for all farm markets.
At the close, the Sep. corn futures settled 4½¢ lower at $3.31¼; Dec. futures closed 4¼¢ lower at $3.38¾ per bushel.
August soybean futures closed 7¢ lower at $10.03, while Nov. soybean futures finished 8¢ lower at $9.78.
Sept. wheat futures settled 4½¢ lower $4.10¼.
August soy meal futures finished $3.30 per short ton lower at $341.50. August soy oil futures closed $0.04 lower at 29.49¢ per pound.
In the outside markets, the Brent crude oil market is $0.77 per barrel lower, the U.S. dollar is lower, and the Dow Jones Industrials are 23 points lower.
Jason Roose, U.S. Commodities grain analyst, says that the grains have turned into a trading range market.
“With weather considered nonthreatening based upon the current weather model, the trade will be watching the demand a lot closer at the these levels and awaiting August weather models,” Roose says.
Regarding the exports reported Thursday, the trade focused on a cancellation from China on soybeans, limiting the midweek rally, Roose says.
Private exporters reported to the U.S. Department of Agriculture the following activity:
Export sales of 129,000 metric tons of soybeans for delivery to China. Of the total, 66,000 metric tons are for delivery during the 2015/2016 marketing year; 63,000 metric tons is for delivery during the 2016/2017 marketing year.
Export sales of 328,000 metric tons of soybeans for delivery to unknown destinations. Of the total, 65,000 metric tons are for delivery during the 2015/2016 marketing year; 263,000 metric tons are for delivery during the 2016/2017 marketing year.
The marketing year for soybeans began September 1.
Separately, USDA’s Weekly Export Sales on Thursday found soybean demand falling below the trade’s expectations:
Corn: 915,300 mt vs. the trade’s expectations of between 800,000 and 1.5 million mt
Soybeans: 676,800 mt vs. the trade’s of between 800,000 and 1.4 million mt
Wheat: 506,100 mt vs. the trade’s expectations of between 400,000 and 600,000 mt
