MARKET DEVELOPMENT
CORRECTED-GRAINS-Soy, corn at 2-week highs, buoyed by palm, fund buying
CORRECTED-GRAINS-Soy, corn at 2-week highs, buoyed by palm, fund buying
13/11/2013 (Reuters) - U.S. soybean futures turned around to trade at a two-week high on Tuesday following a jump in palm oil futures, while corn also hit a two-week high, supported by end-users after the U.S. government forecast stocks below trade expectations.
Malaysian palm oil futures jumped in late trade on Tuesday on concerns that a super typhoon in the Philippines would tighten supplies of other vegetable oils and shift demand to palm oil-based substitutes.
"Soybeans are being supported by the Malaysian market," a European trader said, adding however that stable soymeal prices were capping the rise.
Prices also remained supported by the USDA putting global ending stocks of soybeans at 70.23 million tonnes on Friday, or more than 2 million tonnes below the average of trade forecast.
Soybean futures had traded lower earlier in the day, pressured by improved planting prospects in South America.
Conditions are now nearly perfect for soybean planting in Argentina, the world's top soyoil and soymeal exporter and the No. 3 soybean and corn supplier, where it is just starting.
The Chicago Board of Trade's actively traded January soybeans rose 0.35 percent to $13.05-1/2 a bushel by 1222 GMT. It hit 13.08-1/2 earlier, its highest since Oct. 24.
CORN
The corn market was mainly supported by speculative buying from funds after lower than expected U.S. ending stock forecasts, which the USDA pegged at 1.887 billion bushels, up sharply from 2012/13 but below an average trade estimate of 2.029 billion.
The front-month corn contract rose 0.46 percent to $4.36-3/4 a bushel after hitting a new two-week high of $4.38 earlier in the session.
With U.S. farmers harvesting their biggest-ever corn crop, commodity funds have established a near-record net short position in CBOT corn, leaving the market vulnerable to bouts of short-covering.
Commodity funds bought a net 12,000 CBOT corn contracts on Monday, tradesources said. They sold 4,000 wheat and bought 4,000 soybean.
"Funds come back on long positions and offer support element while corn prices have hit a new low Friday and finding the values of August 2010," French analyst Agritel said.
Farmers have been reluctant to sell much of the 2013 corn harvest due to a steep drop in prices since mid-summer, a factor that has kept cash bids at historically high levels in parts of the Midwest.
The USDA's weekly crop progress report is scheduled for release on Tuesday, a day later than normal due to the federal Veterans Day holiday on Monday. It has said the corn harvest was 73 percent complete and soybeans 86 percent finished by Nov. 3.
Product Last Change Pct Move End 2012 Ytd Pct
CBOT corn 436.75 2.00 +0.46 698.25 -37.45
CBOT soy 1313.50 5.50 +0.42 1418.75 -7.42
CBOT wheat 648.75 2.50 +0.39 778.00 -16.61
Paris wheat 204.50 0.00 +0.00 250.25 -18.28
Paris maize 176.75 0.25 +0.14 237.75 -25.66
Paris rape 380.00 0.25 +0.07 456.25 -16.71
WTI crude oil 94.74 -0.40 -0.42 91.82 3.18
Euro/dlr 1.34 0.01
* CBOT futures prices are in cents per bushel, Paris futures in euros per tonne, WTI crude oil in dollars per barrel.
Malaysian palm oil futures jumped in late trade on Tuesday on concerns that a super typhoon in the Philippines would tighten supplies of other vegetable oils and shift demand to palm oil-based substitutes.
"Soybeans are being supported by the Malaysian market," a European trader said, adding however that stable soymeal prices were capping the rise.
Prices also remained supported by the USDA putting global ending stocks of soybeans at 70.23 million tonnes on Friday, or more than 2 million tonnes below the average of trade forecast.
Soybean futures had traded lower earlier in the day, pressured by improved planting prospects in South America.
Conditions are now nearly perfect for soybean planting in Argentina, the world's top soyoil and soymeal exporter and the No. 3 soybean and corn supplier, where it is just starting.
The Chicago Board of Trade's actively traded January soybeans rose 0.35 percent to $13.05-1/2 a bushel by 1222 GMT. It hit 13.08-1/2 earlier, its highest since Oct. 24.
CORN
The corn market was mainly supported by speculative buying from funds after lower than expected U.S. ending stock forecasts, which the USDA pegged at 1.887 billion bushels, up sharply from 2012/13 but below an average trade estimate of 2.029 billion.
The front-month corn contract rose 0.46 percent to $4.36-3/4 a bushel after hitting a new two-week high of $4.38 earlier in the session.
With U.S. farmers harvesting their biggest-ever corn crop, commodity funds have established a near-record net short position in CBOT corn, leaving the market vulnerable to bouts of short-covering.
Commodity funds bought a net 12,000 CBOT corn contracts on Monday, tradesources said. They sold 4,000 wheat and bought 4,000 soybean.
"Funds come back on long positions and offer support element while corn prices have hit a new low Friday and finding the values of August 2010," French analyst Agritel said.
Farmers have been reluctant to sell much of the 2013 corn harvest due to a steep drop in prices since mid-summer, a factor that has kept cash bids at historically high levels in parts of the Midwest.
The USDA's weekly crop progress report is scheduled for release on Tuesday, a day later than normal due to the federal Veterans Day holiday on Monday. It has said the corn harvest was 73 percent complete and soybeans 86 percent finished by Nov. 3.
Product Last Change Pct Move End 2012 Ytd Pct
CBOT corn 436.75 2.00 +0.46 698.25 -37.45
CBOT soy 1313.50 5.50 +0.42 1418.75 -7.42
CBOT wheat 648.75 2.50 +0.39 778.00 -16.61
Paris wheat 204.50 0.00 +0.00 250.25 -18.28
Paris maize 176.75 0.25 +0.14 237.75 -25.66
Paris rape 380.00 0.25 +0.07 456.25 -16.71
WTI crude oil 94.74 -0.40 -0.42 91.82 3.18
Euro/dlr 1.34 0.01
* CBOT futures prices are in cents per bushel, Paris futures in euros per tonne, WTI crude oil in dollars per barrel.