Wednesday, April 18, 2012

20120418 0942 Global Commodities Related News.

Recap: Wheat Futures (Source: CME)
Wheat futures softened into the close to finish narrowly mixed in Chicago; around a penny higher in Kansas City and weaker in Minneapolis. After enjoying slight to moderate gains most of the trading session, wheat futures faced pressure into the close as traders lightened their long holdings and booked profits.

Wheat Market Recap Report  (Source: CME)
May Wheat finished down 3/4 at 615 1/2, 11 1/2 off the high and 1/2 up from the low. July Wheat closed down 1 at 620 1/4. This was 1/2 up from the low and 11 3/4 off the high. May wheat gave back all of the early small gains to close down on the day and well off of the early peak. The market was trading moderately higher on the day into the mid-session but saw choppy to lower trade for much of the day and pushed to new lows for the day late. The more bullish tilt to outside market forces this morning plus talk of the oversold condition of the market helped to spark some early buying. Talk of weekend cold weather in the eastern Corn Belt helped to provide some support as the crop is advancing and could be more vulnerable to colder weather. The weekly crop progress and condition reports will be released after the close. Morocco officials indicated that they had at least 3-months of domestic needs covered with current wheat stocks. Milling wheat futures in Paris jumped more than 1% which helped to provide some support. However, speculative selling was active late in the day. May Oats closed down 2 1/4 at 320 3/4. This was 2 1/4 up from the low and 3 3/4 off the high.

Corn Market Recap for 4/17/2012  (Source: CME)
May Corn finished down 6 1/2 at 616 3/4, 11 1/4 off the high and 1 up from the low. July Corn closed down 6 at 607 1/4. This was 3/4 up from the low and 10 3/4 off the high. May corn pushed moderately higher on the day early in the session with the other grains but long liquidation selling emerged to drive the market moderately lower on the day into the close to push to the lowest level since March 30th and to the lowest close since March 29th which was ahead of the acreage and stocks reports. The market saw some early buying support from overflow buying from the other grains but futures drifted back to just slightly higher on the day into the mid-session. Traders see planting progress as of Sunday to come in near 17% complete as compared with 7% last week for the delayed weekly update for release after the close. Weekly export inspections were released after the close yesterday and came in better than expected. The surge in the US stock market and higher energy markets were seen as positive forces. Traders see the weather as a mostly negative force as the Midwest dries up from the hefty rain totals this weekend. Only light showers are seen into the weekend and traders see very active plantings again early next week. May corn is now down as much as 48 1/2 cents off of last week's highs. May Rice finished up 0.14 at 15.57, 0.03 off the high and 0.1 up from the low.

GRAINS-Wheat, corn rise from 2-week low, soy up on demand
SINGAPORE, April 17 (Reuters) - Chicago wheat rose 0.7 percent as the market recovered from a two-week low on concerns over a freeze in the U.S. Plains threatening the winter crop, while corn edged higher on strong demand.
"We had export inspection figures which were released after the market closed last night and they were pretty supportive for corn," said Victor Thianpiriya, an agricultural commodity strategist at ANZ.

Kazakhstan lowers 2011-12 grain export forecast
ASTANA, April 17 (Reuters) - Kazakhstan expects grain exports in the current marketing year to reach between 11 million and 12 million tonnes, lower than previously forecast, an Agriculture Ministry official said on Tuesday.
The Central Asian country had exported 8.4 million tonnes of grain between July 1, the start of the current marketing year, and April 1, Anna Buts, director of the ministry's land development and phytosanitary department, told reporters.

Shift to soy frees up in-demand US corn seed
CHICAGO, April 16 (Reuters) - Minnesota farmer Dave Eiynck was surprised last week when his seed dealer called to say he had obtained a particular kind of corn seed.
It was unusual, as the dealer had previously warned he was unable to fill nearly a third of Eiynck's order for a certain seed variety to cover about 1,320 acres (535 hectares) due to short supplies.

POLL-Rains slow record pace of U.S. corn planting
CHICAGO, April 16 (Reuters) - U.S. corn farmers came off their record planting pace last week as heavy rain over the weekend in key growing areas of the Midwest caused the first delays of the spring, analysts said.
A Reuters poll of 16 analysts pegged corn planting at 17 percent complete as of April 15, up from 7 percent a week earlier.

Fire closes USDA, delays Crop Progress report
WASHINGTON, April 16 (Reuters) - An overnight fire forced the closure of the U.S. Agriculture Department complex on the National Mall and disrupted the flow of data to commodity markets, including a closely watched report on U.S. crop development, officials said on Monday.
The weekly crop progress report, ordinarily released on Monday afternoon, was rescheduled because of the blaze, which fire fighters put out. The report will now be released Tuesday at 4 p.m. EDT (2000 GMT).

Argentina strikes Bunge from grains registry again
BUENOS AIRES, April 16 (Reuters) - Argentina has suspended giant agribusiness company Bunge Ltd  from a key government grains registry, citing a tax probe, the government's AFIP tax agency said in a statement on Monday.
The announcement marked the second time the trading company has been suspended from the list over the last 13 months due to the investigation.

SOFTS-Arabica coffee near 18-month low, sugar steady
LONDON, April 17 (Reuters) - Arabica coffee futures hovered near an 18-month low on Tuesday, under pressure from ample supplies, as top producer Brazil's harvest approached.  Harvest in top producer Brazil is due to begin in around a month and dealers expect a large but sub-record crop.  

Vietnam Q1 coffee exports to Indonesia soar-customs
HANOI/SINGAPORE, April 17 (Reuters) - Vietnam's coffee exports to Indonesia soared nearly eight-fold to 26,900 tonnes or 448,300 bags in the first three months of 2012, Vietnam Customs said on Tuesday, as roasters in the rival producer struggled with tight supplies and high prices.
The two Southeast Asian countries compete in the robusta market, but Indonesian roasters have been forced to chase beans from Vietnam for a second year in a row.

Peru yearly coffee output to fall 15 pct - growers
LIMA, April 16 (Reuters) - Peru's coffee production is expected to fall by around 15 percent this year due to heavy rains and a shortage of workers, the country's national council of coffee producers said on Monday.
Peru will likely produce 6.2 million 46-kg bags of coffee in 2012 compared with a record 7.1 million bags in 2011, Council President Cesar Rivas said in a statement.

Vietnam March coffee exports ease to 187,000 T-customs
HANOI, April 17 (Reuters) - Vietnam's actual coffee export volume last month dropped 7.3 percent from February to 187,000 tonnes, or 3.12 million bags, the Vietnam Customs said on Tuesday.
Coffee exports between January and March fell 12.8 percent from the same period last year to 500,500 tonnes, the Finance Ministry-run customs department said in its monthly report.

Ghana cocoa purchases slip further - data
ACCRA, April 16 (Reuters) - Cocoa purchases declared to Ghana's industry regulator Cocobod reached 720,900 tonnes by April 5 from the start of the season, down 5.8 percent on the same period last year, according to Cocobod data seen by Reuters on Monday.
The latest data points to a strong tailing-off in recent weeks of output in the world's number 2 producer, whose 2011/12 crop by late January was some six percent ahead of the previous year after the first 15 weeks of the season.

Brazil March cocoa grind up 3 pct on yr
April 16 (Reuters) - Cocoa grinding in Brazil rose 3 percent in March compared to the same month last year to 20,269 tonnes, industry data showed.  
Brazil is the world's sixth-largest cocoa producer.

Uganda expects April coffee exports to rise yr/yr
KAMPALA, April 16 (Reuters) - Uganda expects coffee exports to rise to 180,000 60-kg bags this month from 176,561 bags in April 2011, a source at the state-run Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) said on Monday.
"The harvest in south and southwestern regions has begun and we're expecting fairly good yields since we've not witnessed the drought that we had last year," a UCDA source said.

Recap: Cotton Futures (Source: CME)
May and July cotton futures settled high-range with gains of 173 and 121 points, respectively. Deferred contracts finished at or near their daily lows with gains of 4 to 31 points. Cotton futures benefitted from corrective short-covering after sharp to limit-lower losses yesterday amid widespread risk aversion and beneficial rains in the South over the weekend.

Obama to Urge Congress for More Regulation of Oil Markets (Source: Bloomberg)
President Barack Obama urged Congress to bolster federal supervision of oil markets, including bigger penalties for market manipulation and greater power for regulators to increase the amount of money traders must put up to back their energy bets. Obama asked Congress to fund a six-fold increase for surveillance and enforcement staff at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to put “more cops on the beat” overseeing oil markets. He also is seeking to give the CFTC new authority to raise margin requirements for traders’ oil positions and stiffen civil and criminal penalties for businesses that are guilty of market manipulation to $10 million from $1 million. The plan would cost $52 million. “We can’t afford a situation where some speculators can reap millions, while millions of American families get the short end of the stick,” Obama said in remarks in the White House Rose Garden today.
The price of gasoline has emerged as an issue in the 2012 presidential campaign and raised concern that it may slow economic growth by pinching consumer spending. Obama has been seeking to set out his differences with Republicans. Mitt Romney, the likely Republican nominee, has accused the Obama administration of thwarting domestic oil production through regulations.

Oil slips towards $118 on euro zone worries
LONDON, April 17 (Reuters) - Brent crude oil slipped to $118 on Tuesday, continuing a steep decline as rising Spanish debt costs raised fears of a new euro zone crisis that could derail economic growth.
"A new euro zone debt crisis appears to be building," said Carsten Fritsch, analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt. "It could have a serious impact on commodities and the growth outlook."

Iran says Saudi unable to fill oil gap in long run-TV
DUBAI, April 17 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia will not be able to replace Iranian oil supplies in the long run, in case of shortfalls due to sanctions against Iran, state television quoted Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi as saying.  
On Friday, Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said top oil exporter Saudi Arabia was determined to bring down high oil prices, reiterating there were no supply shortages in the global markets and the kingdom stood ready to use its spare production capacity if necessary.

Oil and gas cos output soars on favorable weather
April 16 (Reuters) - Oil and gas companies like Denbury Resources Inc  and Oasis Petroleum Inc  said a mild winter in the Dakotas helped them produce more liquids in the first quarter, as they continued to shift away from dry gas.
Oil producers and explorers are increasingly directing their spending towards liquids-rich fields including the Bakken in North Dakota and the Eagle Ford in Texas as low natural gas prices force companies to cut output.

Oil Trades Near Two-Week High on Spanish Debt, IMF Forecast (Source: Bloomberg)
Oil traded near the highest close in two weeks after Spain raised more debt than planned at an auction and the International Monetary Fund boosted its global growth outlook, easing concern a slowing economy will curb demand for crude. Futures were little changed after gaining for a second day yesterday. Spain sold 3.2 billion euros ($4.2 billion) of bills, compared with a maximum target of 3 billion. The IMF raised its growth forecast for 2012 to 3.5 percent from 3.3 percent and increased its 2013 estimate. U.S. crude stockpiles rose for a fourth week, data from the American Petroleum Institute showed. Crude for May delivery was at $104.26 a barrel, up 6 cents, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 9:42 a.m. Sydney time. The contract yesterday gained 1.2 percent to $104.20, the highest close since April 2. Prices are 5.5 percent higher this year.
Brent oil for June settlement rose 10 cents to $118.78 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange yesterday. The European benchmark contract’s front month premium to West Texas Intermediate closed at $14.14, the lowest since Feb. 1. U.S. crude supplies increased 3.4 million barrels last week, figures from the industry-funded API show. An Energy Department report today may show inventories expanded 1.8 million barrels, according to the median of 10 analyst estimates in a Bloomberg News survey.

BHP Iron Ore Output Advances 14%, Meeting Expectations (Source: Bloomberg)
BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP), the world’s largest mining company, said third-quarter iron ore production rose 14 percent as it expands its mines and port in Australia, while warning that strikes severely depleted coal stocks. Output of the steelmaking raw material, its biggest earning unit, was 37.9 million metric tons in the three months to March 31, compared with 33.2 million tons a year earlier, the Melbourne-based company said today in a statement. That compares with the median estimate of 37.3 million tons from four analysts compiled by Bloomberg. BHP and Rio Tinto Group (RIO), which yesterday reported quarterly iron ore output that missed expectations, are expanding production of the raw material to keep pace with Chinese demand. Steel production in China, the biggest producer, hit a record last month as new plants raised output amid higher prices, the National Bureau of Statistics said.
“Iron ore is obviously positive just through the sheer drive to develop that particular commodity,” said David Lennox, resource analyst at Fat Prophets. “Their key iron ore division especially is running flat out.”

Gold May Advance as Euro-Area’s Debt Crisis Spurs Demand (Source: Bloomberg)
Gold futures advanced from a one- week low as the dollar declined, increasing demand for the metal as an alternative investment. The greenback fell for the second straight day against a basket of currencies as European debt concerns eased and the International Monetary Fund increased its forecasts for economic growth. The Standard & Poor’s GSCI Spot Index of 24 commodities rose as much as 0.9 percent. “The dollar’s weakness is supporting all commodities, including gold,” Sterling Smith, a market analyst at Country Hedging in St. Paul, Minnesota, said in a telephone interview. Gold futures for June delivery rose 0.1 percent to settle at $1,651.10 an ounce at 2:11 p.m. on the Comex in New York. Earlier, the price dropped to $1,635.20, the lowest since April 10. The precious metal has advanced 5.4 percent this year. Silver futures for May delivery jumped 1 percent to $31.674 an ounce on the Comex. Prices have climbed 13 percent this year.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, platinum futures for July delivery climbed 0.6 percent to $1,584.70 an ounce. Palladium futures for June delivery increased 1.7 percent to $661.95 an ounce.

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