Wheat Futures Fall as Russian Crop Looks Bigger
August 03 2020 - 4:17PM
Dow Jones News
By Kirk Maltais
--Wheat for September delivery fell 1.9% to $5.21 a bushel on
the Chicago Board of Trade on Monday, in reaction to new estimates
of a larger Russian crop and rains in other wheat-growing
areas.
--Corn for December delivery rose 0.5% to $3.28 1/2 a
bushel.
--Soybeans for November delivery edged 0.4% higher to $8.96 1/4
a bushel.
HIGHLIGHTS
Healthy Yields: There are better rains predicted for Australia,
and IKAR raised its forecast for the Russian wheat crop to 79.50
million metric tons after some better yields in the central and
Volga parts of the country, said Richard Buttenshaw of Marex
Spectron. Traders also expect the USDA to show that the U.S. wheat
crop has improved in quality in its crop progress report Monday
afternoon, up from 70% in good or excellent condition last
week.
Barely Adequate: Grain export inspections released by the USDA
on Monday were on the lower side of trader expectations, said Terry
Reilly of Futures International. Wheat inspections totaled 500,110
metric tons and corn inspections totaled 716,127 tons, according to
USDA data, both on the low side for trader projections. Meanwhile,
soybean inspections totaled 551,543 tons, falling within
expectations.
Absent-Minded: Soybean futures could have gained more if grains
traders were sure that 260,000 metric tons of American beans were
purchased by China. "Commercial traders argue that this morning's
old crop sale to an unknown destination was not to China but to the
EU/Mexico," AgResource said. "This would imply that China has not
been a noted buyer in the U.S. soybean market for the past 5
business days." July sales of U.S. grain exports were high, but it
is unclear if that will continue in August, the firm said.
INSIGHT
Livestock Pile-Up: Coronavirus-related meatpacking plant
shutdowns stranded about 3 million hogs and 1 million cattle on
U.S. farms and ranches over the past few months, Tyson Foods
executives estimate. That's been a burden for farmers, struggling
to slow the animals' weight gain as they await processing, and
keeping barns from overcrowding. For processors like Tyson, it
means strong supplies of cattle and hogs for the coming quarters.
For grains farmers, attempts to slow animal weight gain mean lesser
consumption of feed grains.
AHEAD
--Beyond Meat will release its second quarter earnings after the
market closes Tuesday.
--The EIA releases its weekly update on ethanol production and
inventories at 10:30 a.m. ET Wednesday.
--Corteva releases its second quarter earnings after the market
closes Wednesday.
(Jacob Bunge contributed to this article.)
Write to Kirk Maltais at kirk.maltais@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 03, 2020 16:02 ET (20:02 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.