Market News

Soybeans shoot higher on soybean oil, crude oil strength

Soybeans were sharply higher on commercial and technical buying, pulling contracts to a weekly gain. Beans and bean oil followed crude oil, which was up sharply on escalating tensions in the Middle East. The RVO numbers announced Friday should be a positive for biofuels, helping bean oil close locked limit up. U.S. development weather mostly looks favorable, with the USDA’s weekly national crop progress and condition numbers out Monday. Beans continue to wait for more details on the trade framework with China following recent tariff and rare earth metals negotiations. NOPA member crush numbers for May are also out Monday, with the average guess at 193.519 million bushels, which would be up on the month and the year. The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange now sees Argentina’s wheat crop at 50.3 million tons, up 300,000 from the last guess, with harvest over 90%. Soybean meal futures were down on product spread trade and the prospects of a big crop out of Argentina, the world’s leading exporter of soybean products.

Corn was modestly higher on commercial and technical buying, ending the week mixed. Corn is encouraged by the RVO numbers and there was spillover from beans and crude oil. Corn for ethanol use was already on pace to exceed the USDA’s most recent projection for the current marketing year and this could spur the department to raise expectations in the next round of numbers out July 11^th, if not for old crop, then more than likely for new crop. Corn continues to monitor harvest activity in both Argentina and Brazil. The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange says 47% of Argentina’s crop is harvested.

The wheat complex was higher on speculative and technical buying but closed lower on the week. Some U.S. winter wheat growing areas will see more near-term early harvest delays, and there are ongoing concerns about dry conditions in parts of China and the Black Sea region. There’s much-needed rain in the forecast for parts of the northern U.S. Plains and portions of the Canadian Prairies. The trade’s also monitoring conditions in Australia, Argentina, and Europe. France’s AgriMer says 70% of soft wheat is in good to excellent condition, up 1% on the week.