Markets - General
The London Metal Exchange has abandoned proposals to close its open outcry trading floor, the last such venue in Europe, it said on Tuesday, but added it believes electronic trading is the future.
A Brazilian agribusiness consultancy announced a new forecast reduction for the country’s second corn crop because of a severe drought, adding that yields are expected to touch a five-year low this season.
USDA is set to release its latest WASDE report Thursday. Analysts say the June WASDE report typically isn’t the biggest market moving report for the month, but think there are key changes that need to be made.
USDA’s June World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) amplified the major themes driving the corn market: Demand is strong, supplies are questionable.
Corn Prices Boosted by USDA Report Reflecting Robust Exports, Ethanol’s Rapid Recovery from COVID-19
USDA’s June World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) caused corn prices to hang on to the day’s gains, but spurred soybean prices to tumble Thursday.
Commodity markets were under pressure Friday. The drop was partially due to a report the Biden Administration is considering ways to provide relief to U.S. oil refiners from biofuel blending mandates.
The change in the weather forecast sent commodity prices plummeting Monday. Corn and soybean prices saw pressure after the weather models produced an outlook for wetter and cooler weather by the end of the week.
Soybean prices saw the largest single-day drop in history on Thursday. Prices crashed vigorously, with July and August soybeans down more than $1 on Thursday. This tops any one-day record for a deferred contract.
China will issue new rules on the management of price indexes for commodities and services, it said on Thursday as the government steps up scrutiny of the country’s commodity markets and battles to contain inflation.
Thursday’s historic price loss was spurred by weather forecasts, but it wasn’t the only factor that fueled the drop. As prices clawed back Friday, analysts say it will take multiple factors to see higher highs.
ICE cotton futures rose to their highest in nearly a week on Tuesday, propelled by fears of damage to the natural fiber crop in the delta region due to heavy rains.
Analysts on the Pro Farmer Crop Tour say 2020 is different than the rest.
An unprecedented meeting held early this month among major cattle industry representatives has now produced plans for change. It’s happening while a group of U.S. lawmakers are also asking the DOJ for answers.
Yield prospects for hard red winter wheat in central Kansas were above average, scouts on an annual crop tour said on Tuesday, although yield-robbing diseases, primarily stripe rust, were prevalent in some areas.
Corn prices closed in the green Tuesday, but old crop soybean prices were under pressure again. AgriTalk host Chip Flory digested Tuesday’s market action with Joe Vaclavik of Standard Grain.
Corn and soybean supplies will remain tight enough the next 15 months to make it difficult to recognize the high when it is made.
As the extreme volatility and extended price limits played out in the markets this week, Joe Vaclavik of Standard Grain says the main issue traders are watching are possible changes to corn acreage this year.
China’s corn buying spree continued Friday with a sale of 1.36 million metric tons (mmt). The announcement came on the heels of a week of consistent new crop sales.
The unexplained suspension of operations of a key Chinese agricultural data provider has left traders, analysts and brokers scrambling for other sources of information on one of the world’s most important farm markets.
Dry weather and poorly timed planting are weighing on Brazil’s second corn crop this year, reviving fears of another surge in feed prices like the one that battered big meatpackers after a 2016 drought.
USDA’s first look at new crop in the May WASDE indicated higher crop prices could start to erode demand. However, USDA points out greater domestic use could help offset the idea of lower exports.
As soybean supply concerns continue to impact the market, USDA’s fresh look at 2020/2021 ending stocks in the May WASDE report paints a scenario where soybean supplies will remain extremely tight.
Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures jumped 1.8% on Tuesday, surging above $16 a bushel for the first time since September 2012 as traders focused on prospects for tight supplies until late 2022.
USDA confirmed on Monday China purchased just over 1 million metric tons of new crop corn, but the country also canceled 280,000 metric tons of old crop corn. The buying spree signals tight supplies could continue.
The last seven days were busy with corn planting across the U.S.
The commodity markets proved the bull market is far from over, as May corn futures ended the week above the $7.70 mark. Soybean prices had a similar story, with old crop finishing Friday above $16.
Chinese buyers bought 1.36 million tonnes of U.S. corn, matching their seventh biggest ever purchase of U.S. supplies of the grain, the U.S. Agriculture Department said on Friday.
Chicago Board of Trade corn futures extended a rally on Thursday above eight-year highs as dry weather threatened harvest yields in major exporter Brazil and kept the focus on ebbing global supplies.
A tradition for more than 100 years will now be a thing of the past. The CME Group announced this week it’s not reopening the open outcry pits on the trading floor, which means the tradition will be gone for good.