Market News

Corn down Friday, soybeans & wheat mostly lower

Soybeans were mostly lower on spread trade and profit taking. Soybeans continued to take their cue from soybean meal, which also saw end of the week spread trade and profit taking. Soybean oil was mixed, mostly firm, on bull spreading. Forecasts have improved chances of rainfall for dry parts of Argentina and northern Brazil. Stateside, forecasts have a turn to wetter, colder conditions in the coming week, including a chance for snow in some northern growing areas, but progress might be far enough along to mute some of that impact.

Corn was lower on profit taking and technical selling, pulling December back below $5. Corn is watching U.S. harvest activity ahead of an expected shift in the weather, along with South American planting weather. There’s a chance of rain in some of the dry parts of northern Brazil and Argentina, which would speed up soybean planting, keeping second crop corn planting on track. The USDA’s next round of yield, production, and supply & demand numbers is out November 9^th, the same day as CONAB’s updated outlook for Brazil. Export demand has improved a little, mostly thanks to Mexico, and domestic demand remains solid, especially for ethanol use.

The wheat complex was mixed, with Chicago mostly lower and Kansas City and Minneapolis down modestly. The are more rumors of China buying U.S. wheat, which will have to be confirmed or denied eventually. China is looking to source wheat because of high domestic prices and concerns about conditions in northeastern growing areas. Australia remains dry and half of Argentina’s crop is rated poor to very poor. Both of those could lead to increased chances for improved export demand for U.S. wheat. Russia’s dominance of the export can’t last forever and while Ukraine is still shipping grain, it’s at much lower amounts. India continues to be a wildcard for demand as well. The trade is also monitoring U.S. winter wheat planting, which could wrap up in some areas soon.