Corn Rises as Chinese Export Interest Continues
May 18 2021 - 5:45PM
Dow Jones News
By Kirk Maltais
-- Corn for July delivery rose 1% to $6.59 1/4 a bushel on the
Chicago Board of Trade Tuesday, with the USDA reporting another
chinese purchase of a large quantity of new-crop corn.
-- Wheat for July delivery fell 0.3% to $6.97 3/4 a bushel.
-- Soybeans for July delivery fell 0.8% to $15.74 1/2 a
bushel.
HIGHLIGHTS
Hot Commodity: The USDA again confirmed a large purchase of U.S.
corn exports by China, with the agency saying China bought another
1.36 million metric tons of U.S. corn for the 2021/22 marketing
year. That makes it more than 3 million tons of corn sold to China
this week alone. This, combined with a weaker U.S. dollar, helped
elevate corn futures Tuesday.
Biofuel Blowback: Soybean futures dipped in trading Tuesday, due
in large part to weakness seen in soyoil futures that are trading
only slightly below all-time highs set in 2008. "Traders fear that
reduced consumption of fuel - if Colonial Pipeline has an extended
slowdown - might also reduce biofuel demand," said Arlan Suderman
of StoneX. Growth in the renewable fuels segment has made soyoil
one of the leading agricultural commodities this year. Soyoil
closed down 0.5% at just below 69 cents per pound.
INSIGHTS
Making New Bets: The volatile movement seen in corn futures is
expected to continue in future sessions, said Marex Spectron.
According to the firm, speculators appear unmoved by the steep drop
in futures seen late last week, increasing their owned volumes of
corn futures. In last week's Commitment of Traders report from the
CFTC, managed money funds for the week ended May 11 cut their
exposure in corn long positions by over 40,000 contracts - with the
net long position at 311,523 contracts.
On the Upswing: U.S. ethanol production is expected to draw
closer to the 1 million barrels per day mark, according to analysts
surveyed by Dow Jones this week. They say they expect production to
rise as high as 992,000 barrels per day. Should production exceed
expectations and rise to more than 1 million barrels per day, it'll
be the first time since March 2020 that production has surpassed
that level. Last week, production rose 27,000 barrels per day to
979,000 barrels, according to the EIA.
AHEAD:
--The EIA will release its weekly ethanol production and stocks
report at 10:30 a.m. ET Wednesday.
--The USDA will release its weekly export sales report at 8:30
a.m. ET Thursday.
--The USDA will release its monthly livestock slaughter report
at 3 p.m. ET Thursday.
Write to Kirk Maltais at kirk.maltais@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 18, 2021 17:30 ET (21:30 GMT)
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