Thursday's Closing Grain and Livestock Futures
Mar. corn closed at $6.98 and 3/4, up 4 and 1/2 cents
Mar. soybeans closed at $13.79 and 3/4, down 5 and 3/4 cents
Mar. soybean meal closed at $405.60, down $4.00
Mar. soybean oil closed at 49.75, up 11 points
Mar. wheat closed at $7.44 and 1/2, down 1 cent
Feb. live cattle closed at $131.55, unchanged
Feb. lean hogs closed at $84.60, up 40 cents
Feb. crude oil closed at $93.82, up 72 cents
Mar. cotton closed at 75.20, up 41 points
Jan. Class III milk closed at $18.07, up 7 cents
Feb. gold closed at $1,678.00, up $22.50
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 13,471.22, up 80.71 points
For overnight futures prices click here: http://www.farms.com/markets
Market ReCap and News
Soybeans were lower ahead of Friday’s USDA reports. On average, the trade expects an increase in the production figure along with slightly larger carryover and smaller than a year ago quarterly stocks. The reports are due out at Noon Eastern/11 AM Central. Past that – China and unknown destinations both bought U.S. beans. Beijing picked up 180,000 tons of U.S. beans (60,000 tons for this marketing year and 120,000 tons for next marketing year), along with 126,000 tons of optional origin 2013/14 beans, and unknown purchased 281,500 tons of 2012/13 U.S. beans. Also, the Taiwan Sugar Corp. bought 12,000 tons of U.S. beans. According to Chinese customs numbers, Beijing bought a record 58.38 million tons of soybeans in 2012, up 11.2% from 2011, with December imports at 5.89 million tons, the highest since June 2010. 2012 edible oil imports were up 29% on the year at 8.45 million tons, with December purchases at 1.12 million tons, a 53% year to year increase. Soybean meal was up and bean oil was down on the adjustment of product spreads.
Corn was higher ahead of the numbers. The trade sees corn production down on the month and year along with a year to year decline in the quarterly supply. Still, the ending stocks estimate should be up on the month due to the slow export demand. Weekly numbers were abysmal and Taiwan Sugar Corp. did buy U.S. corn, but it was an extremely small amount, 23,000 tons. South Korea’s Corn Industry Processing Association canceled a tender for 55,000 tons of food grade corn due to high prices. Ethanol futures were higher.
The wheat complex was mixed in pre-report position squaring. Winter wheat planted area is expected to be above year ago levels with quarterly stocks up on the year and carryover down slightly. The trade’s also keeping an eye on conditions across the U.S. Plains with rain in the South and snow expected in the North. European wheat was down modestly ahead of the USDA numbers. Ethiopia bought 150,000 tons of wheat from India and Egypt purchased 115,000 tons of wheat from Canada. Bangladesh issued a tender for 50,000 tons of optional origin wheat.
Click here to see more...