US corn futures end slightly lower on outside market pressure and lackluster demand. The market unable to extend Tuesday's gains, as a stronger US dollar and worries about Europe's debt crisis sends commodites lower. Traders unlikely to have little fresh news to digest until Friday, when USDA issues its monthly supply/demand report. Weak export demand hangs over the market helping limit market's upside, traders add. CBOT Dec. corn ends down 3c to $5.82 1/4 while March corn closes down 3 3/4c to $5.92 3/4.
Wheat (Source: CME)
US wheat futures slide on poor exports and a stronger dollar. Plentiful world supplies are causing headaches for US exporters as customers look elsewhere for cheaper supplies. Meanwhile, traders are expecting little change from the USDA's latest report--due Friday--and see little reason to buy, particularly given a stronger dollar and ongoing worries about Europe's debt crisis. CBOT December wheat ends down 15 3/4c at $5.83/bushel as KCBT December falls 14 3/4c to $6.52 1/4 and MGEX December slides 7 1/2c to $8.46 3/4.
Rice (Source: CME)
US rice futures end lower, relinquishing yesterday's gains amid weak demand and pressure from a stronger US dollar; USD weighed on commodities broadly today. Rice futures are down 17% since late October, thanks to poor demand. CBOT Jan rice ends down 21c, or 1.4%, to $14.38 1/2 per hundredweight.
Wheat Prices Shredded With Near-Record Crop Boosting Reserves: Commodities (Source: Bloomberg)
The biggest slump in wheat prices in three years may have further to go as expanding harvests from Russia to Canada bolster inventories to the most in a decade. The U.S. Department of Agriculture will predict tomorrow a 3.4 percent gain in stockpiles to 202.89 million metric tons by June, according to the average of 16 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Prices that fell 34 percent from a 29-month high of $9.1675 a bushel in February will drop 12 percent more to $5.30 in the next 12 months, Credit Suisse Group AG forecasts. Global food costs tracked by the United Nations have declined 9.1 percent from a record in February, helping to contain inflation as economic growth slows. Corn and soybeans are also tumbling after farmers responded to record-high prices by planting more crops. Combined output of wheat, corn and soy will jump 3.4 percent to a record 1.8 billion tons this season, 32 percent more than a decade ago, the USDA said last month.
U.S. corn, soybeans up on Europe hopes, bargain hunting
SINGAPORE, Dec 7 (Reuters) - U.S. corn and soybeans rose as recent declines spurred bargain hunting, while cautious optimism ahead of a EU summit where policymakers are expected to find a way to resolve the region's debt crisis also supported sentiment.
"The market continues to be influenced by the macro economic concerns out of Europe. The corn market has also been heavy over the past couple of weeks as a result of increased supplies," said Luke Mathews, commodities strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
USDA to trim corn stocks, boost soy supplies
CHICAGO, Dec 6 (Reuters) - The U.S. Agriculture Department is expected to lower its forecast of U.S. corn stocks slightly due to rising feed use and a lackluster harvest while raising soy supplies by nearly 10 percent because of poor export demand, according to analysts surveyed by Reuters.
Corn stocks are expected to again come in at a 16-year low when the government releases its monthly crop production report Friday morning. The drawdown will likely be limited by light demand from overseas buyers as they look elsewhere to fill their supply needs.
Russia seen exporting no less than 25 mln tonnes of grain
MOSCOW, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Russia is expected to export no less than 25 million tonnes of grain in the current 2011/12 season, deputy agriculture minister Alexander Solovyov said on Wednesday.
"Exports this year are expected to be no less than 25 million tonnes, which will be a record volume," he told an international grain forum.
Canada canola, wheat crops bigger than expected
Dec 6 (Reuters) - Hot summer weather helped Canadian farmers reap a record canola harvest and higher-than-forecast production of wheat in 2011, according to a Statistics Canada survey released on Tuesday.
After spring flooding hampered planting in parts of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, hot, dry weather helped slow-developing crops recover in the top exporting country of spring wheat, durum, canola and oats.
US corn product exports to EU at stop- Oil World
HAMBURG, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Exports of U.S. corn products to the European Union have been virtually stopped because of concern they might contain unapproved genetically modified organisms (GMOs), Hamburg-based oilseeds analysts Oil World said on Tuesday.
Europe's biotechnology industry warned in October that agricultural imports are increasingly put at risk by the slowness of the bloc's approval system for new strains of GMO crops.
Minor harm to US Plains wheat from cold snap
CHICAGO, Dec 6 (Reuters) - A cold snap overnight in the U.S. Plains hard red winter wheat region caused minor, if any, harm to some of the crop, an agricultural meteorologist said Tuesday.
"There was only light snowcover in northeastern Colorado, western Nebraska and northwestern Kansas, so there might have been some winterkill there but probably not much," said Don Keeney, meteorologist for MDA EarthSat Weather.
Thai 2012 rice exports may halve, market share at risk
BANGKOK, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Thai rice exports in 2012 may fall by half from this year to around 5 million tonnes as its prices are too high compared with those of rivals Vietnam and India, exporters said on Tuesday.
The drop could topple it off its position as the world's top rice exporter behind Vietnam, which aims to sell a record of more than 7 million tonnes this year through lower prices even as the Thai intervention scheme keeps its prices up.
S.Africa's weekly white maize exports down
JOHANNESBURG, Dec 6 (Reuters) - South Africa exported 34,858 tonnes of white maize last week compared with 53,988 tonnes in the previous week, the South African Grain Information Service (SAGIS) said on Tuesday.
Exports of yellow maize were recorded at 3,223 tonnes, compared with 2,974 tonnes in the week before, SAGIS said on its website, www.sagis.org.za.
ICE coffee, sugar steady, cautious optimism over euro
LONDON, Dec 7 (Reuters) - ICE coffee and sugar were steady in early trade and cocoa hovered above a 3-year low, buoyed by growing confidence that euro zone leaders are on track to produce a package of measures to solve the debt crisis at their Friday summit.
Arabica coffee futures were slightly lower, with a softer dollar underpinning the commodities complex.
India coffee exports seen falling 15 pct in 2011-12
NEW DELHI, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Coffee exports from India, the world's sixth-biggest producer, were expected to fall some 15 percent in 2011-12, Coffee Board Chairman Jawaid Akhtar said on Wednesday, because of rising consumption at home.
Akhtar said exports for the year ending March 31, 2012 were seen between 240,000 and 250,000 tonnes against 294,000 tonnes a year ago.
Demand, price outlook in focus at Vietnam coffee meet
HANOI/SINGAPORE, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Ample robusta supply, uncertainties over a plan by major producer Vietnam to stockpile to prevent another price fall and demand outlook at a time of global economic slowdown will take centre stage at an industry conference this week.
London robusta has bounced from an 11-month low reached in November, but gains were mostly driven by rallies in New York arabica futures as heavy rains drenched plantations in Colombia, the world's top producer of the high-quality variety.
Vietnam's 2011/12 coffee output seen rising 9 pct
HO CHI MINH CITY, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Vietnam's coffee output from the 2011/2012 harvest due to end next month is likely to be 9 percent higher than the previous harvest, a senior industry executive said on Wednesday.
Output is expected to rise to 1.25 million tonnes, equivalent to 20.83 million bags, beating a previous forecast by Vietnam's coffee industry body which could put pressure on global prices if the stocks are released into the market quickly.
Euro Coal-Prices dip on stalling oil prices
LONDON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Physical prompt coal prices fell by a marginal 25-50 U.S. cents on Tuesday as oil prices stalled, with tension in Iran balanced against a broader market fall after Standard and Poor's warned of possible euro zone downgrades.
S&P said it might cut the ratings of countries including Germany and France if no convincing plan emerges this week to solve the debt crisis. European Union leaders will meet on Friday, and investors hope a solution will result from this summit.
S.Africa coal exports surge at worst time
LONDON, Dec 5 (Reuters) - South Africa's coal exports are surging into 2012 just when top spot buyers China and India are out of the market and supply bottlenecks elsewhere have eased, so it will have to fight for market share, eroding prices in a fundamentally weak landscape.
South Africa has the port capacity to export 81 million tonnes a year of coal from Richards Bay Coal Terminal but in recent years the tonnage shipped has been far lower at around 64 million tonnes due to rail bottlenecks.
Saudi crude output 10.047 mln bpd in Nov-senior official
Dec 7 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia produced 10.047 million barrels per day of crude oil excluding condensate in November, a senior Saudi oil official told Reuters on Wednesday.
"Saudi Arabia' production has been fluctuating this year. It has reached over 10 million barrels in November excluding condensate because consumer demand was higher," the official said.
Russia rejects Iran oil ban -energy min
DOHA, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Banning Iranian oil sales would be a political move and Russia does not believe energy supplies should be used to exert pressure, Russia's energy minister said on Wednesday.
European Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said on Tuesday there was consensus among some EU countries to ban imports of Iranian oil and that Europe hoped to bring Russia on board in a global ban.
Algeria pumping 1.2 mln bpd of crude
LONDON, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Algeria's Energy Minister said his country was pumping 1.2 million barrels per day of crude and had 200,000 bpd of spare capacity.
"Our current production is 1.2 million barrels per day of oil and we plan to increase this capacity to around 1.5 (million bpd)," Energy and Mines Minister Youcef Yousfi told a session at the World Petroleum Congress on Wednesday.
Iran oil to Europe difficult to replace if banned-OPEC's Badri
DOHA, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Iranian oil supplies to Europe would be difficult to replace if a ban supported by some European Union states is imposed, OPEC's secretary general said on Wednesday.
"I really hope there would not be a ban on Iranian crude by EU, it would be very difficult to replace," Abdullah al-Badri said.
China shale gas boom could surpass U.S. - Sinopec
DOHA, Dec 7 (Reuters) - China is set for a shale gas revolution which will surpass that seen in the United States, the chairman of Sinopec, the country's second-largest oil company, said a day after Reuters revealed Royal Dutch Shell Plc had begun shale gas production in China.
Fu Chengyu, chairman of state-controlled China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (Sinopec) , said it could take five to 10 years but that China's output would exceed that of the United States.
China asks oil firms to raise diesel, gas supply
BEIJING, Dec 7 (Reuters) - China asked its oil firms to increase diesel supplies and produce natural gas at full capacity to meet demand in the winter-spring season, according to a statement posted on the website of the National Development and Reform Commission (www.ndrc.gov.cn).
The supply of diesel in some regions has been tight for some months and gas demand is peaking in northern China due to heating demand.
Crude Oil Trades Near One-Week Low in New York as U.S. Stockpiles Increase (Source: Bloomberg)
Oil traded near a one-week low in New York as investors speculated that an unexpected gain in U.S. crude inventories indicates demand will falter in the world’s biggest consumer of the commodity. Futures were little changed after dropping for the first time in four days. Stockpiles increased 1.34 million barrels last week, a report from the U.S. Energy Department showed. They were forecast to decline 1.25 million barrels, according to a Bloomberg News survey of analysts. Gasoline supplies climbed almost six times more than projected. Crude for January delivery was at $100.35 a barrel, down 14 cents, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 10:45 a.m. Sydney time. The contract yesterday decreased 79 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $100.49, the lowest settlement since Dec. 1. Prices are 10 percent higher this year after climbing 15 percent in 2010.
Iron Ore-Spot prices little changed, Vale resumes shipments
SINGAPORE, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Iron ore price offers in top consumer China were steady on Wednesday, reflecting slow steel demand which may continue to limit appetite for the raw material for the rest of the week.
Offers for imported iron ore in China were unchanged, with Australian Pilbara fines quoted at $139 to $141 a tonne, cost and freight, and Newman fines at $141 to $143, Chinese consultancy Umetal said.
Ukraine '12 steel output to rise 5.5 pct - report
KIEV, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Ukraine is likely to raise its crude steel output to 36.5 million tonnes in 2012 from 34.6 million tonnes this year, Ukrainian specialist news agency UGMK reported on Monday citing producers' data.
The agency quoted local steel producers' union Metalurgprom as saying Ukraine was likely to produce 30.0 million tonnes of pig iron and 33.6 million tonnes of rolled steel next year.
Gold Declines as European Leaders Gather; Palladium Snaps Eight-Day Rally (Source: Bloomberg)
Gold declined after holdings in exchange-traded products fell from a record and the European Central Bank was seen cutting interest rates today ahead of a regional leaders’ summit intended to tackle the debt crisis. Palladium futures dropped for the first day in nine. Immediate-delivery gold dropped 0.3 percent to $1,737.57 an ounce at 9:28 a.m. in Singapore after rising 0.8 percent yesterday and 0.3 percent on Dec. 6. February-delivery bullion fell 0.2 percent to $1,741.50 an ounce on the Comex in New York. Holdings in bullion-backed exchange-traded funds dropped to 2,356.716 metric tons yesterday from the all-time high of 2,358.206 tons on Dec. 6, according to Bloomberg data. The ECB will cut rates by a quarter of a percentage point to 1 percent, according to 53 of 58 economists in a Bloomberg News survey.
Baltic index falls for 2nd day, market seen volatile
LONDON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, which tracks rates to ship dry commodities, fell for a second session on Tuesday as slower trade took its toll.
The shipping sector is expected to see more turmoil in coming months as a supply glut and growing economic gloom keep earnings under pressure.
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