Grains Related News.

UPDATE 1-USDA trims soy stocks view; raises corn, wheat stocks view - Reuters News

11-Apr-2018 12:34:20 AM

Adds prices, analyst quote

By Mark Weinraub

WASHINGTON, April 10 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Tuesday issued a surprise downward revision to its forecast for domestic soybean supplies as strong profit margins at processors encouraged them to crush more beans.

The government raised its outlook for wheat and corn ending stocks, reflecting decreased demand for both grains from the feed and residual sector.

Soybean futures rallied to their highest since March 9 after the report was released. Corn and wheat remained in negative territory.

In its monthly supply and demand report, USDA pegged soybean ending stocks for the 2017-18 marketing year at 550 million bushels, down 5 million from its March estimate.

It raised its estimate for soybeans used for crushing by 10 million bushels to 1.970 billion bushels. USDA left its U.S. soybean export forecast unchanged at 2.065 billion bushels.

Analysts had been expecting soybean ending stocks of 574 million bushels, based on the average of estimates given in a Reuters poll.

Despite USDA's lower forecast, soybean ending stocks would still be the second-biggest total on record if realized.

USDA also lowered its estimate for the Argentine soybean crop by 7 million tonnes to 40 million tonnes, and reduced its export outlook for that key South American supplier by 2.60 million tonnes to 4.20 million tonnes.

"We are seeing some benefit from what's happening with the short Argentina (soybean) crop, but not enough to offset the export business we lost in the first half of the marketing year," said Arlan Suderman, analyst at INTL FCStone. "We need a late-year surge in export business just to hit USDA's current target."

The harvest outlook for Brazil was raised to 115 million tonnes from 113 million tonnes. Brazil soybean exports were pegged at 73.10 million tonnes, up 2.60 million tonnes from USDA's March outlook.

For corn, USDA raised its domestic ending stocks outlook to 2.182 billion bushels, up from 2.127 billion in March.

USDA lowered corn usage in the feed and residual category by 50 million bushels and by 5 million bushels in the food, seed and industrial category.

The government also lowered its estimate of both Brazil's and Argentina's corn harvests and said that reduced competition was expected to impact U.S. exports during the first half of the 2018-19 marketing year.

For wheat, U.S. ending stocks were raised to 1.064 billion bushels from 1.034 billion bushels. Wheat usage in the feed and residual sector was cut by 30 million bushels.

 

(Additional reporting by Michael Hirtzer in Chicago, editing by G Crosse)

 

 

UPDATE 1-Argentina buys most U.S. soy in 20 years after drought cuts crop - Reuters News

11-Apr-2018 01:44:11 AM

Adds quotes, USDA crop outlook, bylines

By Michael Hirtzer and Maximiliano Rizzi

CHICAGO/BUENOS AIRES, April 10 (Reuters) - Argentina booked its largest purchase of U.S. soybeans in 20 years on Tuesday after drought cut the harvest in the world's third biggest soy producer, forcing crushers there to turn to imports.

The surprise move pushed Chicago soybean futures to a one-month high, in the latest development to upend global soy trading after top buyer China last week proposed tariffs on U.S. imports amid an intensifying Washington-Beijing trade dispute.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture in its daily export sale reporting system said 120,000 tonnes of U.S. soybeans were sold to Argentina for delivery during the 2018-19 marketing season that starts on Sept. 1 - the biggest such sale since 1997.

The USDA separately forecast Argentina's soybean harvest at 40 million tonnes, the smallest since 2009's crop of 32 million tonnes. Argentina is the world's top exporter of soymeal and soyoil.

"We're very rapidly seeing a realignment in soybean trading," said international agricultural trade and policy consultant John Baize, president of John C. Baize and Associates.

Argentina will need soybeans by October, a time when crushers in the South American country usually lack sufficient domestic supplies, and the crushers want to make sure they have enough after this year's drought. Argentina exporter chamber spokesman Andrés Alcaraz said the U.S. soybeans sold this week would be crushed and exported as soymeal and soyoil.

"The industry already had a lot of idled capacity and now it is going to have even more because it does not have grain," Ezequiel de Freijo, chief economist at Argentina's Rural Society producers' group, said of soybeans.

European buyers have also scooped up cargoes of U.S. soybeans in recent days. U.S. soybeans have been a relative bargain due to surging prices in Brazil.

China, which buys about two-thirds of global soy exports, was favoring Brazilian supplies and threatening to impose tariffs on U.S. soybean imports to retaliate against U.S. tariffs on China's electronics and other goods.

Soybean futures on the Chicago Board of Trade initially plunged 5 percent after China announced the proposed tariffs but have recovered all of those declines.

CBOT May soybeans were up 5 cents to $10.52 per bushel in early afternoon trading, after earlier reaching $10.64, the highest since March. 9.

 

(Additional reporting by Karl Plume in Chicago and Luc Cohen in Buenos Aires
Editing by P.J. Huffstutter and Chris Reese)

 

 

WASDE: World, U.S. Soy Reserves Fall Below Analyst Estimates

By Stephen Cunningham

(Bloomberg) --  

World soy reserves drop below all analyst estimates as U.S. ending stocks unexpectedly decline, according to April report released in Washington.

• Soybeans:
• World 2018 reserves 90.8m tons; survey range 91m-96m
• U.S. 2018 reserves 550m bu (prior 555m) ; survey avg 574m
• China imports unchanged at 97m tons
• Brazil crop 115m tons; est. 115.6m
• Argentina crop 40m tons; est. 42.6m
• Corn:
• U.S. 2018 reserves 2.182b bu; survey avg 2.197b
• World 2018 reserves 197.78m tons; survey avg 197.1m
• Brazil crop 92m tons; est. 92.1m
• Argentina crop 33m tons; est. 33.3m
• Wheat:
• U.S. 2018 reserves 1.064b bu; survey avg 1.039b
• World 2018 reserves 271.2m tons; survey range266.5m-270m
• U.S. exports 15m bales; est. 15.16m
• U.S. 2018 reserves 5.3m bales; est. 5.14m
• World crop 759.8m tons; prior  758.8m