Soybeans were higher on technical and commercial buying. Contracts started lower but demand remains solid and the trade’s keeping an eye on South America. The May through August 2012 contracts finished above $13. Export inspections were more than what’s needed weekly to meet USDA projections for the marketing year. Soybean meal and oil were up, following beans. Gains in bean oil were limited by the steep drop in crude oil, which was down sharply on demand concerns. The International Grains Council projects 2012/13 global soybean production at 246.5 million tons, a three year low and down sharply on the year, mainly due to lower production in South America. The IGC pegs Brazil’s crop at 69.4 million tons and sees Argentina at 46 million tons, with Paraguay at 5 million tons. Brazilian firm AgRural also lowered its domestic soybean production estimate. Dow Jones Newswires reports Vietnam bought 40,000 tons of soybean meal from India and 14,000 tons from Argentina.
Corn was mixed with nearbys up on commercial support and deferreds down on speculative selling. For the old crop contracts, the cash basis was firm and near term demand looks good, keeping the supply tight. Still, new crop was lower on expectations for increased U.S. acreage and a larger supply down the road. USDA’s updated supply and demand numbers are out March 9 and prospective planting estimates are due out March 30. Ethanol futures were mixed.
The wheat complex was higher on short covering and commercial buying, along with spillover from beans. Near term demand looks solid with the hard red winter cash basis up Monday on talk of new export sales. Past that – there was no fresh news and U.S. growing weather looks good in most of the key winter wheat areas. European wheat was lower on the higher Euro but did manage to close above support as the Euro slid slightly late in the session.