20121213 1008 Global Commodities Related News.

DTN Closing Grain Comments 12/12 14:33 Grains Fail to Inspire Buyers (CME)
Corn, soybean, and wheat prices generally dipped lower again Wednesday as relatively few traders have been willing to act as buyers in the last few weeks of the year.

Wheat Market Recap Report (CME)
March Wheat finished down 9 1/2 at 812, 13 1/2 off the high and 3 up from the low. May Wheat closed down 9 1/4 at 824 1/2. This was 3 1/4 up from the low and 12 3/4 off the high. March Chicago and KC wheat traded lower on the day as the market followed through with the weakness seen yesterday. Some of the losses may have been due to margin calls on traders with long positions who were forced to liquidate but the technical picture soured which favored the bear camp. Many traders believe the sharp decline in prices seen over the last 24 hours will bring in more export demand which may stabilize futures in the short term. Furthermore, the corn vs. wheat spreads have collapsed which could mean increase domestic feed wheat demand in early 2013. Tunisia tendered for 100,000 tonnes of soft wheat yesterday and the lowest offer was pegged at $362.69 per tonne. Some expect the business to be done by France or the US.
Jordan bought 50,000 tonnes of optional-origin wheat and Japan bought 21,530 tonnes of feed wheat from the US. Japan also released a tender for an additional 120,000 tonnes of feed wheat overnight. Conditions in the west continue to look supportive to the KC wheat market. Some forecasters show showers entering the western plains later this week but accumulation is expected to be light. Very little is in the forecast to offer improvement. March Oats closed down 2 3/4 at 385 1/4. This was 3 1/4 up from the low and 5 off the high.

Corn Market Recap for 12/12/2012 (CME)
March Corn finished down 2 1/2 at 725 1/2, 6 1/4 off the high and 6 1/2 up from the low. May Corn closed down 2 at 728 1/2. This was 6 1/2 up from the low and 5 1/2 off the high. March corn traded modestly lower on the day as the wheat market continued its decline following yesterday's bearish USDA report. Corn export demand was left unchanged in yesterday's USDA report but the pace of sales and shipments remains sluggish. Newswires reported this morning that South Korea's largest feed maker bought 238,000 tonnes of corn from South America and South Africa in its overnight tender. The tender excluded the US. The EIA ethanol stocks report was not support to the complex and ethanol production for the week ending December 7th averaged 824,000 barrels per day. This is down 1.3% vs. last week and down 12.2% vs. last year. Total ethanol production for the week was 5.8 million barrels. Corn used in last week's production is estimated at 86.5 million bushels. This crop year's cumulative corn used for ethanol production for this crop year is 1.2 billion bushels. Corn use needs to average 86.6 million bushels per week to meet this crop year's USDA estimate of 4.5 billion bushels. Stocks as of December 7th were 20.02 million barrels. This is up 3.6% vs. last week and up 17.4% vs. last year. January Rice finished down 0.175 at 15.345, equal to the high and equal to the low.

Recap Energy Market Report (CME)
January crude oil prices were under some minor early pressure but managed to regain its footing ahead of mid session. The market was probably emboldened by the recovery in US equities and because of the latest promise of ongoing easing from the US Fed. clearly energies were at times undermined by the fear of a setback in the fiscal cliff talks but it seemed as if the trade was able to throw off that negative theme. January crude oil sold off from their best level of the morning in the wake of EIA inventory data that showed a modest build last week of 843,000 barrels. Crude oil imports for the week stood at 8.499 million barrels per day compared to 8.230 million barrels the previous week. The refinery operating rate was down 0.2% to 90.40%. The other surprise feature that pressured energy markets was the larger than expected build in EIA gasoline stocks last week of 5.000 million barrels. Average total gasoline demand for the past four weeks was down 1.25% compared to last year. EIA distillate stocks rose 2.986 million barrels. Crude stocks at 372.609 million barrels is the highest for this week since 1987. EIA crude stocks rose 843,000 barrels and are 38.458 million barrels above year ago levels. Also, crude stocks stand 46.454 million barrels above the five year average. Crude oil imports for the week stood at 8.499 million barrels per day compared to 8.230 million barrels the previous week. The refinery operating rate was 90.40% down, 0.20% from last week compared to 85.10% last year and the five year average of 85.00%. EIA gasoline stocks rose 5.000 million barrels and are 1.703 million barrels below last year and 5.118 million above the five year average. Average total gasoline demand for the past four weeks was down 1.25% compared to last year. Gasoline imports came in at 585,000 barrels per day compared to 513,000 barrels the previous week. EIA distillate stocks rose 2.986 million barrels and stand at 23.447 million barrels below last year and 27.959 million below the five year average. Distillate imports came in at 191,000 barrels per day compared to 155,000 barrels the previous week. Average total distillate demand for the past four weeks was down 0.66% compared to last year. Heating oil stocks at 27.054 million barrels is the lowest for this week since 2011 EIA heating oil stocks rose 1.141 million barrels and are 11.782 million barrels below last year and 16.816 million below the five year average.

Oil Trades Near Week High on Fed as IEA Boosts Demand Forecast (Reuters)
Oil traded near the highest level in a week in New York after the Federal Reserve announced new measures to bolster the U.S. economy and the International Energy Agency increased its forecast for crude demand. Futures were little changed after climbing the most in two weeks yesterday. The Fed said it will buy $45 billion a month in Treasury securities to help boost economic growth in the world’s biggest crude user. The IEA increased its estimates for oil consumption in the fourth quarter and 2013 on signs of a rebound in China. OPEC kept its production target unchanged for a second time this year as members judged prices to be sufficiently high. Crude for January delivery was at $86.74 a barrel, down 3 cents, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 10:23 a.m. Sydney time. The contract increased 98 cents to $86.77 yesterday, the highest close since Dec. 5. Prices are down 12 percent this year.
Brent for January settlement gained $1.49 to $109.50 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange yesterday. The European benchmark contract closed at a premium of $22.73 to West Texas Intermediate futures. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which pumps 40 percent of the world’s oil, maintained its official quota at 30 million barrels a day, a level it now exceeds by about 1 million barrels a day. It failed to elect a new secretary-general at a meeting yesterday in Vienna and agreed to extend the term of Abdalla El-Badri for one more year.

Silver Market Recap Report (CME)
The silver market also waffled around both sides of unchanged today but the market was ultimately able to throw off the negative bias and forge some decent gains. Some traders might suggest that silver outperformed the gold market and others might suggest that silver has adopted a tighter positive correlation with US equities. The silver market probably garnered some added spillover buying interest from the noted and ongoing gains in the copper market.

Gold Market Recap Report (CME)
The gold market forged a range today of roughly $17 but the bull camp might point to the capacity to reject early selling as a positive. However, the bear camp might suggest that the magnitude of the gains today were suspect in the face of an extension of quantitative easing. Perhaps some gold bulls wanted to see more forceful easing promises from the Fed or perhaps some gold bulls were simply put off balance as a result of a slight setback in the fiscal cliff talks. Some traders were suggesting that the passing of the FOMC meeting might have caused some longs to exit to the sidelines ahead of the year end and specifically ahead of the end of the lame Duck Congress.