GRAINS-Soy up 3rd session on S America outlook; wheat, corn up
NEW DELHI, March 27 (Reuters) - Chicago soybeans rose for a third straight session after hitting a six-month high a day earlier on worries over supply from drought-hit South America amid higher
Chinese demand for U.S. beans.
"There is a strong case for soy to rise, as you can see a constant deterioration in the crop outlook of Brazil and Argentina while Chinese demand for U.S. beans is very strong," said Adam Davis, a senior commodity analyst at Merricks Capital in Melbourne.
Australia declares destructive La Nina dead
SYDNEY, March 27 (Reuters) - A weather pattern blamed for heavy rains and crop destruction in the Asia-Pacific region over the past two years has run its course slightly ahead of schedule, forecasters in Australia said on Tuesday.
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology said climate models indicate the weather phenomenon known as La Nina, the girl child, has come to an end, after earlier this month predicting it would drag on for further month or two.
Canada minister signals little concern on Viterra deal
OTTAWA, March 26 - Canada's farm minister highlighted on Monday the global marketing reach of Swiss-based Glencore in the latest sign from Ottawa that it has little appetite for blocking the company's proposed takeover of grain handler Viterra .
Canada is one of the few countries that can help meet growing global demand for food, which is set to increase by 50 to 70 percent in coming decades, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz told reporters when asked to comment on the Glencore bid.
Ukraine exports 1.46 mln T grain March 1-23
KIEV, March 26 (Reuters) - Ukraine's grain exports totalled 1.46 million tonnes in March 1-23 compared to 1.48 million tonnes in the same period in February, analyst ProAgro said on Monday.
ProAgro said the volume included 1.01 million tonnes of corn, 247,000 tonnes of wheat and 195,000 tonnes of barley.
Ukraine sows 418,000 ha spring grains so far 2012
KIEV, March 26 (Reuters) - Ukrainian farms have sown 418,000 hectares of early spring grain as of March 26, the Farm Ministry said on Monday.
It gave no comparative data.
Ukraine plans to sow about 9 million hectares of spring grains this year.
IRS waives fines for farmers missing MF Global tax info
CHICAGO, March 26 (Reuters) - U.S. tax officials will not penalize farmers who could not properly file their taxes because they had accounts at bankrupt broker MF Global.
The Internal Revenue Service said in a press release on Friday it would waive fines for farmers who underpaid their taxes because they did not receive forms reflecting profits and losses in MF Global accounts before a March 1 deadline.
Wheat Declines as Beneficial Weather Boosts U.S. Yield Potential (Source: Bloomberg)
Wheat futures in Chicago and Kansas City fell the most in two months after a government report showed warm, wet weather boosted crop conditions from Texas to Illinois. About 59 percent of the winter-wheat crop in Kansas, the biggest U.S. grower, was in good or excellent condition as of March 25, up from 31 percent a year earlier, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said yesterday. Texas wheat was 39 percent rated in the top two categories, up from 11 percent last year, and Oklahoma crops rated good or excellent rose to 75 percent from 21 percent a year ago. Illinois wheat was rated 78 percent good or excellent. “It looks like it will be one of the best U.S. crops in the last 10 years,” Jeff Beal, a market analyst at the Gulke Group Inc. in Rockford, Illinois, said in a telephone interview. “The weather has been very favorable for wheat development.”
Wheat futures for May delivery slumped 3 percent to close at $6.3975 a bushel at 1:15 p.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade, the biggest drop since Jan. 12. The grain has fallen 12 percent in the past year as rising world production will boost reserves before the start of the Northern Hemisphere harvest season to the highest since 2000.
Corn futures started the day session mixed, but couldn't garner more than early, light short-covering and that eventually gave way to increased selling. Futures ended 3 to 7 cents lower. Funds were sellers of 9,000 contracts (45 million bu.) of corn today. Traders are hesitant to even cover short positions ahead of Friday's key USDA reports. (Source: CME)
Wheat futures softened as the day progressed to finish 12 to 19 3/4 cents lower for Chicago; 17 1/2 to 20 cents lower in Kansas City; and mostly 11 3/4 to 15 3/4 cents lower in Minneapolis. Futures faced a corrective pullback today, as traders recognize that domestic crop prospects are improving as yesterday’s state-by-state hard red winter wheat crop condition reports showed improvement in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas over the past week. (Source: CME)
Corn market could EXPLODE if we suffer a 3rd year of yields 5+% below trend (Source: CME)
By CME Group - Tue 27 Mar 2012 14:46:16 CT
“Soybeans has replaced corn as the main driver in the crop markets and will probably remain so for the next 6 months as CME trades in a range of $13.50-$14.50. World vegoils are becoming a “demand-led” market with rapidly expanding S. AM biodiesel use” “China grain demand data called into question - keep an eye on cash prices. Rapidly rising disposable income is difficult to measure in terms of grain/meat demand.” “The world is awash with wheat. Prices to languish in a broad trading range of $5.80-$7.20 CME unless 2012 world production is threatened by weather (or the US corn crop is threatened)” “As always, watch weather into spring planting. Corn market could EXPLODE if we suffer a 3rd year of yields 5+% below trend.” Statements By Chief Economist AG Resource, Bill Tierney at a CME AG event in progress.
Fast Paced Corn Plantings “Tend” to Boost Final Corn Seeded area (Source: CME)
By CME Group - Tue 27 Mar 2012 14:39:42 CT
“If 2012 Corn is Planted Very Early, USDA Could Add 2 Bu (Maybe 3) to Yield Proj in May WASDE” and “A Fast Paced Corn Planting “Tends” to Boost Final Corn Seeded Area Above Intentions” are two of the reasons Chief Economist AG Resource, Bill Tierney suggests final yield could end up being higher than expected. Cotton futures closed off their session highs, but still posted gains of 93 to 198 points, with old-crop contracts leading the way. Futures were supported by followthrough short-covering as traders prepare for USDA's Prospective Plantings Report Friday morning. Cotton acres are already widely expected to drop sharply and there's growing concern the strong rally in soybeans could cause some producers to shift more cotton acres to soybeans.
Report Shows“2012 corn seedings to be smaller than expected, Soybeans as expected” (Source: CME)
By CME Group - Tue 27 Mar 2012 14:27:48 CT
Chief Economist AG Resource, Bill Tierney suggests Corn Seedings to Be Smaller Than Industry Expectations at 93.6 – 93.7 Million Acres. He suggests that this would tend to be “Friendly new crop and Bearish old crop” but warns Dec Corn futures historically does not respond dramatically to stocks report. Soybeans as expected
March Corn Stocks to Be Higher, Prices to fall 3-4% following report (Source: CME)
By CME Group - Tue 27 Mar 2012 14:18:37 CT
In a presentation to CME Group Customers and media Chief Economist AG Resource, Bill Tierney suggests "March Corn Stocks to Be Higher Than Industry Expectations" “If correct prices will fall 3-4% in the week following the report” “Each of the USDA reports has the potential to move the crop markets, but combined, their impact could be substantial, immediate, and long-lasting.”
Corn Market Recap for 3/27/2012 (Source: CME)
Tue 27 Mar 2012 14:15:00 CT
May Corn finished down 7 at 630 3/4, 13 3/4 off the high and 1/4 up from the low. July Corn closed down 5 1/4 at 630 3/4. This was 1 up from the low and 12 off the high. May corn closed moderately lower on the session and experienced the lower close since January 23rd. This leaves the market down more than 25 cents from Monday's highs. Talk of a steady flow of fund trader long liquidation selling yesterday and again today helped to pressure. December corn also closed lower and saw the lowest close since January 18th. Outside market forces were choppy into the opening and while the market managed to open higher, the market was trading near the lows shortly after the day session opening. Positioning ahead of the key reports for Friday contributed to the choppy trade action and a move from higher to lower in the soybean market may have actually helped to support a bounce to slightly higher on the day into the mid-session as the soybean move may have sparked some liquidation of long soybean, short corn spreads.
While many traders expected open interest to fall after the sweeping outside-day-down yesterday, open interest was up 2,413 contracts. May Rice finished up 0.29 at 15.095, 0.105 off the high and equal to the low.
Wheat Market Recap Report (Source: CME)
Tue 27 Mar 2012 14:15:01 CT
May Wheat finished down 19 3/4 at 639 3/4, 23 3/4 off the high and 1 up from the low. July Wheat closed down 17 1/2 at 652 3/4. This was 1 up from the low and 21 3/4 off the high. May wheat closed sharply lower on the session and gave back much of the gains from the last three trading sessions. Some light weather concerns with dryness in Europe and cold weather concerns for the US crop have helped support the active short-covering of the previous three sessions but sellers were active today with improving crop conditions and ideas that global supply looks more than sufficient for the coming season. Milling wheat in Paris was down nearly 2% as well after positing a 9-month high on Monday. The market followed the other grains higher early in the session but talk of the improving crop conditions in the US and ideas that the market may be a bit overbought ahead of the key USDA reports for Friday helped to pressure the market to trade slightly lower on the day into the mid-session. In the weekly progress reports, Kansas winter wheat crops are rated 59% good to excellent which is up from 54% last week and just 31% last year. Oklahoma crops are now rated 75% good to excellent, up 5% from last week. Topsoil is short to very short on just 13% of the area vs. 84% last year. Nebraska crops are rated 71% good to excellent as compared with 40% last year. While many traders expected open interest to fall after the so-called short-covering run higher yesterday, open interest was up 1,157 contracts. May Oats closed up 7 1/4 at 340. This was 9 up from the low and 1 off the high.
World grain prices to stay strong-UN's FAO
BUENOS AIRES, March 26 (Reuters) - World grain prices should remain "very firm" over the near term as demand from Asia exceeds forecasts and dry weather cuts into supply, the senior economist of the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Monday.
South American corn and soy yields took a beating from drought this season, while China's rapidly growing middle class continues its love affair with beef steaks. The shift in diet has held strong in the face of the country's economic slowdown, underpinning demand for corn and soymeal used to feed cattle.
Corn, soy seen infringing on US spring wheat belt
CHICAGO, March 26 (Reuters) - Doyle Johannes has been farming for 30 years in the middle of North Dakota, breadbasket country where spring wheat has long been the mainstay. But this year, Johannes says corn will be his primary crop.
Johannes farms 8,500 acres in Underwood, 40 miles north of Bismarck, the state capital -- hundreds of miles west of the Red River Valley, along the Minnesota border where corn and soybeans have established a foothold.
Illycaffe on the sidelines as coffee prices fall
CHARLESTON, S.C., March 26 (Reuters) - Coffee roasters such as illycaffe are unable to take advantage of prices at 17-month lows because they are still working through the inventory they bought at much higher levels, illycaffe's chief executive told Reuters.
U.S. importers have said in recent weeks that the physical market has been surprisingly quiet , particularly given the drop in futures prices to below $2 per lb for the first time in nearly 1-1/2 years.
SOFTS-Sugar firms after selloff, coffee edges up
LONDON, March 27 (Reuters) - Raw sugar futures on ICE firmed early, consolidating in a technical recovery after a selloff late on Monday triggered by a decision by Indian authorities to approve further exports.
Arabica coffee edged up, with upside potential limited by expectations for a big harvest in Brazil, and cocoa inched higher, buoyed by concerns over a lack of quality beans from top producer Ivory Coast.
Rains to help Brazil's dry sugar cane fields
BRASILIA, March 26 (Reuters) - Rains over Brazil's main sugarcane state, Sao Paulo, should turn more frequent through mid-April bringing relief to fields that have been drying out for near two months after unusually few showers, forecaster Somar said on Monday.
The world's top sugar producer is now just weeks from the start of the harvest in its center-south cane belt, one eagerly awaited after last year's disappointing crop. But recent dryness could prevent cane from growing to its full potential.
India allows 1 mln T of extra sugar exports
NEW DELHI, March 26 (Reuters) - India has allowed another 1 million tonnes of unrestricted white sugar exports, a government source said on Monday, bringing the total approved so far to 3 million tonnes, in line with what the industry and markets expected.
The world's second-biggest producer of sugar had already allowed mills to export 2 million tonnes of sugar without restrictions under its Open General Licence (OGL) scheme in the current year that started in October 2011.
Iran-bound Brazilian sugar ship hijacked off India
DUBAI, March 26 (Reuters) - An Iranian bulk carrier of Brazilian sugar was hijacked in the eastern Indian Ocean early on Monday with 23 crew on board, international shipping monitors said.
The Eglantine, which according to Reuters shipping data loaded in Rio de Janeiro in late February, was hijacked off India's southwest coast by suspected Somali pirates, NATO's counter-piracy mission said.
Brent crude stays above $125 on Fed comments, Iran
SINGAPORE, March 27 (Reuters) - Brent held steady above $125 on as comments from the U.S. Federal Reserve indicating easy monetary policy would remain in place for some time raised investors' appetite for riskier assets.
"It was more a reminder that the Fed stands ready to turn on the printing presses again should conditions warrant it," said Ben Le Brun, market analyst with OptionsXpress in Sydney.
Oil Drops From One-Week High in New York on Rising U.S. Supplies (Source: Bloomberg)
Oil dropped from the highest close in more than a week in New York as investors bet that rising U.S. stockpiles signal fuel demand may falter in the world’s biggest crude-consuming nation. Futures slipped as much as 0.6 percent, declining for the first day in four. Crude supplies rose 3.6 million barrels last week, data from the American Petroleum Institute showed. A government report today may show inventories gained 2.6 million barrels, according to a Bloomberg News survey. Prices also slid after the U.S. said it’s considering releasing oil from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve. U.S. gasoline demand declined 1.5 percent last week, according to MasterCard Inc. (MA)
“We’re at that level where we will need fresh impetus in terms of ongoing improvement in the demand outlook to take us above here,” said Ric Spooner, a chief market analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney who sees technical resistance for West Texas crude at $108 a barrel. Inventory data ’’provides some insight into the state of the supply, demand balance in the U.S., particularly as we approach the driving season.’’ Oil for May delivery fell as much as 59 cents to $106.74 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $106.88 at 12:05 p.m. Sydney time. It gained 30 cents yesterday to $107.33, the highest close since March 19. Prices are 8.2 percent higher this year and headed for a second consecutive quarterly gain.
China Beats U.S. With Power From Coal Processing Trapping Carbon (Source: Bloomberg)
After studying chemistry at Shanghai’s Fudan University, Jane Chuan and Wang Youqi pursued doctorates in the U.S. She got hers from what’s now the University of Buffalo in 1988, the year they married. Wang graduated in 1994 from the California Institute of Technology. A few years later, they were cashing in stock options in Silicon Valley companies they’d co-founded, one of which created a luminescent chemical to store X-ray images. Their home in Atherton, California, had seven bedrooms, 11 bathrooms and an acre of land, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its May issue. By 2000, Wang was convinced that the research methods he was patenting could help stave off the environmental nightmare he saw unfolding during return visits to his homeland. China, already reeling from pollution, was poised to more than double coal consumption during the decade. That would choke cities with smog and exacerbate global warming.
Chuan, 61, bespectacled and smiling in her white lab coat, remembers pounding the pavement to pitch U.S. investors on cleaning China’s coal. Only a handful of California’s Internet- obsessed venture capitalists bit, she says.
US gas price spike revives fight over energy taxes
WASHINGTON, March 26 (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil, the world's most profitable corporation, says it paid more than 45 percent of its 2011 income in taxes, while critics say it paid much less.
So which is it?
The answer is that it depends on how the calculation is made and who is making it - a point that is becoming more important as gasoline prices and oil company profits soar.
Gold May Gain From Two-Week High on Fed Monetary Policy (Source: Bloomberg)
Gold declined from a two-week high as the dollar’s rebound eroded demand for the metal as an alternative investment. The greenback rose from a three-week low against a basket of major currencies, as optimistic reports on consumer confidence and housing weakened the case for additional stimulus by the Federal Reserve. Yesterday, gold jumped the most in four weeks after Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said that accommodative monetary policy was needed to bolster the labor market. “The dollar’s strength is keeping gold quiet,” Dennis Cajigas, a senior market strategist at Zaner Group in Chicago, said in a telephone interview. “We are seeing some profit- taking.” Gold futures for June delivery fell 50 cents to settle at $1,687.70 an ounce at 1:42 p.m. on the Comex in New York. Earlier, the price reached $1,699.60, the highest for a most- active contract since March 13.
The precious metal has gained 7.7 percent this year. Holdings in exchange-traded products backed by gold jumped 5 metric tons to 2,394.6 tons yesterday. The amount rose to a record on March 13.
Copper Falls as U.S. Data Boosts Dollar, Dents Stimulus Case (Source: Bloomberg)
Copper fell for the first time in three sessions in New York as evidence that the U.S. economy is on firmer footing boosted the dollar and weakened the case for additional economic stimulus from the Federal Reserve. The S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values showed home prices in 20 U.S. cities dropped at a slower pace in January, while consumer confidence in March held close to the highest level in a year, the New York-based Conference Board said. The dollar rebounded from a three-week low against a basket of currencies, reducing the appeal of the metal as an alternative investment. “Dollar strength is weighing on the market,” Harry Denny, a broker at Hoboken, New Jersey-based PVM Futures Inc., said in a telephone interview. “Until the Fed sees that housing has fully recovered, they’ll hint at stimulus. But I think they’ll just leave that on the table.”
Copper futures for May delivery retreated 0.2 percent to settle at $3.88 a pound at 1:17 p.m. on the Comex in New York. Prices gained 3.2 percent in the previous two sessions, and have risen 13 percent this quarter. The metal climbed the most in almost five weeks yesterday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said continued accommodative monetary policy will be needed to make further progress in lowering unemployment.
No comments:
Post a Comment