Oil Rises for a Third Day in New York on Optimism About U.S. Energy Demand (Source: Bloomberg)
Oil climbed for a third day in New York, reaching a 30-month high, after the U.S. added more jobs than economists forecast, signaling fuel demand may increase in the world’s biggest crude-consuming nation.
Corn Gains 0.8% to $7.4175 Per Bushel in Chicago; Wheat Contract Advances (Source: Bloomberg)
Corn futures gained as much as 0.8 percent to $7.4175 a bushel, the highest price for the most- active contract in a month on the Chicago Board of Trade. They traded at $7.40 a bushel, up 0.5 percent at 7:52 a.m. Singapore time. Wheat futures gained 1 percent to $7.6725 a bushel, while soybeans traded at $14 a bushel, up 0.5 percent.
Corn (Source: CME)
US corn futures finish sharply higher as Thursday's USDA's lower-than-expected inventory forecast fuels supply fears for a second day. Tight stocks confirm high prices hasn't slowed down demand from grain users, including livestock producers, and point toward a cut in government's season-end supply outlook next week. "Corn prices need to rise strongly in the near term to ration demand, including feed," says Goldman Sachs, which projects corn at $8.60/bushel in three months. CBOT May ended up 42 3/4c, or 6.2%, at $7.36. The daily trading limit Monday will revert back to 30c from Friday's extended level of 45c.
Wheat (Source: CME)
US wheat futures close slightly lower as traders book profits after a 5% rally yesterday. Markets pull back after climbing on spillover support from limit-up move in the corn market. But wheat lacks supply concerns that supported corn, as global wheat inventories are large. USDA yesterday pegged March 1 US wheat inventories above traders' expectations but estimated corn inventories below expectations. CBOT May wheat slips 3 3/4c to $7.59 1/2 a bushel; KCBT May drops 1 1/2c to $9.06 1/2; MGE May loses 1 1/4c to $9.22 1/2.
Oats (Source: CME)
Oat futures rallied, succumbing to spillover support from corn and lingering concerns about plantings in the northern Plains and Canada. Oats for May delivery rose 7 3/4 cents, or 2.1%, to $3.75 a bushel.
Rice (Source: CME)
US rice futures finish lower on profit-taking, retreating after rising Thursday on spillover support from rallies in corn and wheat. Corn led the grains rally Thursday on a lower-than-expected inventory estimate from the USDA and extended gains Friday. But rice lacked a supportive storyline of its own, analysts say. CBOT May rice closes down 17 1/2c at $13.81 per hundredweight.
Ukraine Winter Grains In Good, Satisfactory Condition On 93.2% Of Planted Area Mar 31 (Source: CME)
Of the 8.088 million hectares in the Ukraine planted with winter grains for the 2011 harvest, as of Mar. 31 crops were in good and satisfactory condition on 93.2% of the planted area, the agriculture ministry reported. Crops were in good condition on 4.43 million hectares, or 54.8% of the total planted area, and in satisfactory condition on 3.1 million hectares or 38.4% of the total planted area. Crops in a weak condition were reported on 545,400 hectares or 6.8% of the total planted area. Crops were destroyed on 1,800 hectares or 0.02% of the total planted area. The ministry said winter wheat was in good condition on 3.68 million hectares or 56.3% of the total winter wheat planted area. Wheat in satisfactory condition was reported on 2.45 million hectares or 37.6% of the total wheat planted area. Wheat was destroyed on 10,600 hectares or 0.2% of the total wheat planted area. Winter barley was in good condition on 565,000 hectares or 45.4% of the total barley planted area.
Barley in satisfactory condition was on 558,000 hectares or 44.9% of the total barley planted area. Barley in poor condition was on 121,000 hectares or 9.7% of the total barley planted area. Winter rye was in good condition on 187,000 hectares, or 65% of the total rye planted area, and in satisfactory condition on 84,500 hectares or 29.4% of the total rye planted area. Ukraine Hydro Meteorological Center said Dec. 1 that despite the winter grain planted area being 5.5% less than a year ago, Ukraine was likely to harvest this year 24-25 million metric tons of winter crops, 15%-20% more than in 2010, because the crops were in a better condition than last year. The agriculture ministry expects this year's grain harvest at 42 million metric tons. Ukraine's grain harvest in 2010 fell by 14.8% on the year to 39.23 million tons in clean weight because of drought.
China Pressuring Companies To Avoid Price Increases To Rein In Inflation (Source: CME)
Ramping up efforts to rein in inflation that has fueled widespread public discontent, China is pressuring companies that sell food and daily necessities-including global giant Unilever PLC-to avoid price increases. Unilever had planned to raise prices on items including shampoo and laundry detergent to offset higher commodity costs, but the Anglo-Dutch consumer-goods company postponed the increases following a meeting earlier in the week with officials from the National Development and Reform Commission, according to a Unilever spokesman. The officials from the NDRC, the country's economic-planning agency, said they didn't want price increases because of concerns over public alarm about inflation, the spokesman said. "We were asked, and we chose to comply," said the spokesman. He said it was the first time the Chinese government had asked Unilever not to raise prices. The company hasn't determined how long the delay will last.
Tingyi (Cayman Islands) Holding Corp., one of China's biggest sellers of instant noodles, also delayed plans to raise prices after meeting with the planning agency, a company spokeswoman said, adding that it was ultimately Tingyi's own decision. The company said it doesn't know how long it will hold off the increase. The National Development and Reform Commission didn't respond to requests for comment. In recent months, consumer prices have been rising at their fastest clip in two-and-a-half years, despite a raft of government measures to tame inflation, which Premier Wen Jiabao said last month is the government's highest economic priority this year. Two surveys of purchasing managers in China released Friday showed that manufacturing activity was up in March from the previous month and pricing pressures stayed high, although there were signs the rate of increase had started to slow. Ultra-high inflation has historically been a cause of social unrest in China.
While current rates are well below the levels associated with such incidents, there are clear signs that inflation is causing alarm among consumers. Over the past week, Chinese shoppers cleared supermarket shelves of soap, laundry detergent and shampoo following state-media reports that detergent makers including Unilever and Procter & Gamble Co. planned price increases of 5% to 15%. Those figures haven't been confirmed. P&G declined to comment earlier in the week, and again Friday. Food prices-up 11% in February from a year earlier, more than twice the 4.9% rise in the broader consumer price index-have sapped household budgets in recent months, causing a decrease in consumer confidence, according to a survey by the China Economic Monitoring and Analysis Center and media research firm Nielsen Co. Consumers have begun to stock up on nonperishable goods that they use daily and anticipate will be more expensive in the future.
Aluminium price to ride high on energy, bank deals
LONDON, March 31 (Reuters) - Soaring power costs, lucrative bank deals that keep metal away from the market and strong demand growth will boost aluminium prices this year.
Behind the potentially game-changing factors of Middle East regime change and a global rethink of nuclear -- that have hit the whole energy sector -- aluminium's own electricity costs have been boosted by more regional pressures across the world.
Mexico's January copper, silver output jumps
MEXICO CITY, March 31 (Reuters) - Mexican copper output jumped 41.7 percent in January compared to the same month last year as production was ramped up at the massive Cananea copper mine, which only recently reopened after a three year strike.
Copper output reached 26,891 tonnes in the first month of this year, compared to 18,973 tonnes in January 2010, the national statistics agency said on Thursday.
Sumitomo Metal's H1 copper output down 24 pct
TOKYO, April 1 (Reuters) - Sumitomo Metal Mining Co said on Friday it plans to produce 155,000 tonnes of copper in the first half of the 2011/12 fiscal year, down 24 percent from the preceding six months due to plant maintenance that will start in September.
The company said it had produced 203,782 tonnes in the October-March period, slightly above its plan for 202,000 tonnes.
Black Sea steel billet stable, sales volumes low
LONDON, April 1 (Reuters) - Black Sea region steel billet was little changed this week and sales volumes were low as worries about political tension in North Africa and the Middle East, falling scrap prices and holidays in Iran, hindered sales.
Black Sea billet sold at $620-$630 a tonne free-on-board (FOB), a similar level compared with last week, traders said.
Costs the key for Europe steel outlook-Fitch
PARIS, March 31 (Reuters) - The performance of European steel makers this year will be shaped by their ability to pass on higher raw material costs and by contrasting growth in the industries they supply, a Fitch analyst said on Thursday.
"Possibly the biggest issue for steel producers this year is their ability to pass through costs," Peter Archbold, European head of basic materials at Fitch Ratings, told reporters.
Strike at Bolivia silver mine drags, markets calm
LA PAZ, March 31 (Reuters) - A nine-day-old strike at Bolivia's largest silver mine continued to halt output and exports on Thursday with no talks in sight, but the dispute was seen having little impact on prices for the precious metal.
Bolivia's San Cristobal is the world's third-largest silver producer and the sixth-largest producer of zinc, according to Japan's Sumitomo Corp , which owns the mine.
METALS-Copper hits 2-week low as demand still slow
LONDON, April 1 (Reuters) - Copper hit a two-week low on Friday, extending the first-quarter's 2.4-percent loss as a lull in Chinese demand worried investors, and as strength in the dollar eclipsed economic optimism supported by U.S. jobs data.
"The survey today should help things," Charles Kernot, an analyst at Evolution Securities, said.
PRECIOUS-Gold falls 1 pct after U.S. payrolls data
LONDON, April 1 (Reuters) - Gold fell on Friday after data showed the U.S. economy added more jobs than expected in March, lifting the dollar and supporting expectations U.S. authorities may move towards tighter monetary policy.
"Nonfarm payrolls data was better than expected, further evidence of the economic recovery in the United States," said BNP Paribas analyst Anne-Laure Tremblay.
US May corn futures rally by 5 pct on declining stockpiles
SINGAPORE/BEIJING, April 1 (Reuters) - Corn prices surged rallying more than 5 percent, as strong demand whittled down stocks even as farmers geared up to plant the second-largest area with the grain since 1944. "The low stocks reported for corn and soybeans were a surprise and will likely support prices as the planting campaign begins," Rabobank said in a report.
Ukraine sows 761,000 ha for spring grain March 31
KIEV, April 1 (Reuters) - Ukrainian farms have sown 761,000 hectares for the 2011 spring grain harvest as of March 31 compared to 986,000 at the same date last year, Ukraine's Farm Ministry said on Friday.
It said farms had sown 566,000 hectares of spring barley, 101,000 of peas and 47,000 of spring wheat.
Argentina to approve more corn exports
BUENOS AIRES, March 31 (Reuters) - Argentina is about to authorize the export of 3 million tonnes more of 2010/11 corn as the government works to find new markets for the cereal, including China, the agriculture minister told Reuters. The South American country is the world's second-biggest corn exporter after the United States, but the government restricts exports of corn and wheat to ensure the local market is well supplied.
EU cleared 480,000 tonnes wheat exports this week
PARIS, March 31 (Reuters) - The European Union this week granted export licences for 480,000 tonnes of soft wheat, taking the total since the beginning of the 2010/11 (July-June) season to 15.4 million tonnes, official data showed on Thursday. The total so far in 2010/11 remained well ahead of levels last season, when 13.4 million tonnes of export licences had been cleared by the same stage.
Cocoa eases early as Ouattara makes further gains
ICE cocoa futures were slightly lower as forces loyal to Ivory Coast president claimant Alassane Ouattara made further gains, raising the prospect that cocoa could soon start to flow again from the world's top producer. Raw sugar futures on ICE edged up in early trade but the market remained stuck within its recent trading band.
India release 1.7 mln T non-lvey sugar for April-Govt
MUMBAI, April 1 (Reuters) - India has made available 1.7 million tonnes of non-levy sugar for April, little changed from 1.684 million tonnes it had released in March, the government said in a statement on Friday. The quota includes 100,000 tonnes of unsold stocks from March, the statement said.
India withdraws tax breaks for raw cotton exports
NEW DELHI, April 1 (Reuters) - India, the world's second-biggest cotton producer, has withdrawn tax incentives for raw cotton exports with retrospective effect from April 21, 2010, a government statement said on Friday. "When the intention of the government is not to encourage exports of specific commodity, DEPB benefit ... would be contradictory to its intention," the statement said.
China 2011 cotton area seen up 6.2 pct-industry survey
BEIJING, March 31 (Reuters) - China's cotton planting area in 2011 is seen rising 6.2 percent from last year, according to a survey published on Thursday on an industry website under the China National Cotton Reserves Corp. The estimate was revised down from its December forecast of a 6.8 percent increase, the website showed, due to fluctuating cotton prices and rising production costs.
U.S. farmers plant huge crops as stocks dwindle
WASHINGTON, March 31 (Reuters) - U.S. farmers say they will plant some of the biggest corn and soybean crops ever this spring, racing to keep pace with unrelenting global demand that's rapidly depleting stockpiles and driving up food costs.
A government survey found corn plantings would be the second-largest since World War Two and soybeans the third highest ever. But traders focused on a companion report that showed unexpectedly small stockpiles, sending corn prices up by 4.5 percent, hitting the 30-cent daily limit for price swings.
U.S. cotton plantings fall short, rekindles rally
NEW YORK, March 31 (Reuters) - U.S. farmers will plant far less cotton than expected this spring, a government survey showed on Thursday, prompting cotton futures to resume a rally that many assumed had run its course.
ICE cotton futures surged by their daily limit after the U.S. Agriculture Department's annual intentions report projected 2011 cotton plantings at 12.566 million acres, much lower than the estimate for 13.21 million to 13.24 million acres that the industry anticipated.
