Corn (Source: CME)
U.S. corn futures rally, ending higher on strong weekly export sales. The morning sales announcement of more than 1 million metric tons helped the market rebound after falling to a 3-week low Wednesday. The sales are a reminder that supplies remain tight and that it will take a big U.S. crop with favorable weather this year to replenish the pipeline. Traders also noting a correction in the corn/soybean spread, which had widened in recent days, prompting speculation that U.S. corn acreage could decrease. CBOT March corn ends up 9 1/4c to $6.36 1/4 per bushel.
Wheat (Source: CME)
US wheat futures end higher on a rally for corn, decent export sales for both grains and worries about spring wheat acreage. Still, traders are quick to note that world wheat supplies are ample. Deferred contracts for MGEX spring wheat soar, fueled by concerns that farmers won't plant enough acres in the northern Plains, analysts say. CBOT March wheat rises 2 3/4c to $6.28/bushel, KCBT March climbs 13c to $6.83 and MGEX September soars 3.7% to $7.97.
Rice (Source: CME)
US rice futures end slightly lower for a second straight day as the market drifts amid poor demand. World supplies are ample and desire for US rice has been slack for months. CBOT March rice ends down 4 1/2c at $14.30/hundredweight.
US corn at 3-week low on supply hopes, soy dips
SINGAPORE, Feb 16 (Reuters) - U.S. corn futures slid to a three-week low falling for a third straight day on expectations of a bigger corn stocks, while soybeans slid 0.7 percent, ending a four-session rising streak.
"We have had a good rally in beans so it might be a bit of profit-taking," said Adam Davis, a senior commodity analyst at Merricks Capital in Melbourne. "Funds are piling into soybeans and selling corn which is going to dictate price action in beans and corn."
Cold damage to EU grain crops limited so far-analyst
PARIS, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Damage to European winter wheat and barley crops due to a cold spell which has hit the bloc since late January is so far limited but risks from frost and thaw cycles remain, analyst Strategie Grains said on Thursday.
The analyst lowered by 600,000 tonnes its estimate for the European Union's soft wheat crop this year to 132.7 million tonnes, still up 3 percent on last year, but said the cut was mostly due to changes in area estimates based on official data.
Argentina, China reach deal on corn trade-minister
BUENOS AIRES, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Argentine and Chinese officials signed a sanitary protocol on Wednesday allowing China to buy Argentine corn products after months of negotiations, the South American country's agricultural minister said.
Argentina is the world's No. 2 corn exporter after the United States, and China is a major global food importer.
Impact of downed Brazil grains loader looms
SAO PAULO, Feb 15 (Reuters) - The risk of bottlenecks for soy and corn exports from Brazil, one of the world's top suppliers of the commodities, is growing each day the country's main grain terminal at Santos Port is shut down due to a collision with a ship late on Monday.
The impact of the impaired terminal on world food and futures markets is still small while harvesting of grains in Brazil remains nascent, a port official said.
W.Australia grains harvest hits record 15 mln/t-minister
SYDNEY, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Western Australia state's 2011-2012 grains harvest has exceeded 15 million tonnes for the first time, with more than 80 percent of the tonnage earmarked for export, the state government said on Thursday.
The bumper crop was recorded despite an abnormally wet and protracted harvest in recent months, Terry Redman, the state's minister for agriculture said in a statement.
Farmers sue to regain control of Canadian Wheat Board
WINNIPEG, Manitoba, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Several farmer organizations that support the Canadian Wheat Board's grain marketing monopoly are launching a court action aimed at restoring farmer control of the board and collecting C$17 billion ($17 billion) in damages for farmers.
The lawsuit, launched by the law firm Sack Goldblatt Mitchell LLP, will present constitutional arguments to try to remove the CWB from government control, and collect damages farmers may incur from the board's weakened market clout, the Friends of the Canadian Wheat Board group said on Wednesday.
Argentina Exchange Maintains 2011-12 Soy, Corn Production Forecasts (Source: CME)
The Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange held its soy and corn production forecasts steady in its weekly crop report, saying that it expects rains to drench a large part of the farm belt during the next week. Rain in recent weeks has helped the developing 2011-12 soy crop to recover from drought conditions in December and much of January that caused permanent damage to the corn crop. In the case of soy, an increase in the seeded area will offset lower yields due to dry weather earlier in the season, said the exchange, which maintained its 2011-12 production forecast at 46.2 million metric tons. The exchange also stuck to its corn harvest forecast of 21.3 million metric tons. Exports of grains and soybeans, including related products like soyoil and soymeal, are a key contributor to the federal government's coffers and the trade surplus, which eased to $10.35 billion last year.
China To Start Buying Argentine Corn (Source: CME)
Chinese and Argentine authorities have reached a deal to start sales of corn from the South American nation to the Asian country, Argentina agriculture minister Norberto Yauhar announced. Argentina is the world's second-largest corn exporter behind the U.S., shipping over 15 million metric tons of corn in calendar year 2011. Last year, the top buyers included Colombia, Algeria and Peru. China has historically been a major corn exporter, but weather problems in recent seasons and soaring demand have turned the country into an importer. China and Argentina have been in talks for over a year to reach the sanitary accord needed to clear the shipment of Argentina's transgenic corn varieties to China. Argentina's agriculture ministry has forecast corn production for the 2011-12 season at 23 million metric tons, one of the largest crops on record.
Soybeans Called to Open Lower on Brazil Rainfall; Corn, Wheat May Decline (Source: Bloomberg)
What follows are opening calls for U.S. grain and oilseed markets.
-- Soybean futures may open 6 cents to 9 cents a bushel lower on the Chicago Board of Trade on speculation that rains next week will ease dry conditions for crops in Brazil, Chad Henderson, a market analyst with Prime Agricultural Consultants Inc. in Brookfield, Wisconsin, said in a telephone interview. Soybean- oil futures may open 0.5 cent to 0.6 cent a pound lower, and soybean-meal futures may open down $2 to $3 per 2,000 pounds.
-- Corn futures are called to open 1 cent to 3 cents a bushel lower in Chicago on speculation that demand will slow from U.S. ethanol producers as stockpiles of the gasoline additive climb, Henderson said.
-- Wheat futures may open steady to down 2 cents a bushel on the CBOT, the Kansas City Board of Trade and the Minneapolis Grain Exchange after a government report showed U.S. export sales have slowed, Henderson said.
Drought Clouds Outlook For US Cotton Production (Source: CME)
Federal forecasters expect a severe drought to continue or intensify in the U.S.'s top two cotton-producing states, a factor that may clip output there next fall. Dry weather likely will persist in Texas and Georgia through the end of May, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said. Together, the two states comprised more than 40% of U.S. cotton production last autumn. "We'll get a shower every now and then but we're extremely dry," Gary Collins, an agronomist at the University of Georgia, said. A drought ravaged production in top growing state Texas last fall. Production of upland variety cotton, the vast majority of what the U.S. grows, was halved compared with the 2010-11 season, according to the USDA. Mike Lucas, a cotton grower in Cochran, Ga., and vice chairman of the Georgia Cotton Commission, a growers' crop-research group, said irrigating his 300 acres of cotton would drive up production costs. "It's a lot more expensive," he said.
It is too early to tell whether the drought will hurt planting since a few days of rainfall could be a game-changer, Collins said. But Lucas said the situation is causing "a lot of worry." "We just hope the good Lord sends the rain," he said.
Rain Seen Helping Mexican Sugar Production In 2012-13 (Source: CME)
Long-awaited rain in Mexico's sugar-producing regions is going to help Mexico's 2012-13 harvest more than the current season's, Carlos Blackaller, president of the National Union of Sugarcane Growers, said. The rain started coming down last Thursday, after months of drought in the sugar regions. Yields for sugarcane harvested in April, May and June might increase slightly, he said, which would help the 2011-12 crop that is currently under way. However, the cane that is developing for the coming season, which starts in October, will see the greatest benefit. Mexico's 2011-12 sugar harvest is 42.5% harvested as of Feb. 11, with 2.03 million metric tons of sugar produced from 19.51 million tons of cane. The average yield of sugar per ton of sugarcane was 10.41%. The Mexican government recently lowered its estimate for the 2011-12 harvest to 5.1 million metric tons, from a previous forecast of 5.3 million tons. There is no official 2012-13 production forecast yet.
Ivory Coast cocoa reform talks stall over costs
ABIDJAN, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Talks on Ivory Coast's sweeping cocoa reform plan have stalled between leading export firms and authorities over its proposed allowance for transport costs, sources from both sides said on Wednesday.
The top grower nation's overhaul of the cocoa sector is meant to provide farmers a price floor to encourage investment and is also a vital step for the war-scarred West African state to get more relief on its foreign debt.
Brazil cocoa arrivals jump in the last week
SAO PAULO, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Cocoa deliveries to warehouses in Brazil jumped in the last week, boosted by a surge in the supply from smaller producing states, data from the Bahia Commercial Association showed on Wednesday, but output from the main cocoa state Bahia slipped.
Total domestic arrivals in the week to Feb. 14 totaled 32,460 60-kg bags, up from 26,691 bags in the previous week. Bahia-based cocoa analyst Thomas Hartmann said the additional output was almost all from the northern state of Para.
Uganda's 2012 sugar production seen up 26 pct
KAMPALA, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Uganda's 2012 raw sugar production is forecast to rise 26 percent, boosted by expected good weather and higher cane supplies from outgrowers, an industry official said on Wednesday.
Wilberforce Mubiru, secretariat manager at Uganda Sugar Cane Technologists Association (USCTA), told Reuters the east African country would produce about 327,075 tonnes of sugar, up from last year's 259,413 tonnes.
Brent reverses gains; Greece weighs
LONDON, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Brent crude reversed earlier gains and drifted below $119 after topping $120 a barrel the previous day as fears of a delay in a second bailout package for Greece weighed down global markets.
"We have some retracement after yesterday's Iran stories and generally a risk off on yet another postponement of the Greek deal," said Thorbjorn bak Jansen, oil analyst at Global Risk Management in Copenhagen.
Oil Trades Near Six-Week High on U.S. Economy, Optimism Over Greek Aid (Source: Bloomberg)
Oil traded near the highest price in six weeks as signs of an improving U.S. economy and progress on a bailout plan for Greece bolstered speculation that fuel demand will recover. Futures were little changed, heading for the biggest weekly gain this year, after U.S. jobless claims dropped to the lowest level since 2008. Greece expects euro area finance ministers to approve a second aid package at a meeting on Feb. 20, according to Pantelis Kapsis, a government spokesman. Oil for March delivery was at $102.29 a barrel, down 2 cents, on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 8:14 a.m. Singapore time. Prices yesterday rose 51 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $102.31, the highest close since Jan. 4. Prices are up 3.7 percent this week, the most since the period ended Dec. 23, and 18 percent the past year.
Brent oil for April settlement rose $1.18, or 1 percent, to $120.11 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange yesterday, the highest close in eight months. The premium to West Texas Intermediate for the same month was at $17.47, compared with a record $27.88 on Oct. 14.
Gold Traders Get More Bullish as Billionaire Paulson Says Buy: Commodities (Source: Bloomberg)
Gold traders are getting more bullish after billionaire hedge-fund manager John Paulson told investors it’s time to buy the metal as protection against inflation caused by government spending. Twelve of 22 surveyed by Bloomberg expect prices to gain next week and five were neutral. Paulson & Co. is already the biggest investor in the SPDR Gold Trust, the largest exchange- traded product backed by bullion, with a stake valued at $2.9 billion, a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Feb. 14 showed. Investors have 2,387.4 metric tons in ETPs, within 0.3 percent of the record reached in December and more than all but four central banks, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Speculators in U.S. gold futures are now their most bullish since September after the Bank of England and Bank of Japan said they will buy more assets and the Federal Reserve said it was considering purchasing more bonds.
Central banks are also expanding their bullion reserves, adding 439.7 tons last year, the most in almost five decades. They may buy a similar amount in 2012, the London-based World Gold Council said yesterday.
