Soybeans Drop as Traders Shift Focus -- Daily Grain Highlights
October 21 2021 - 3:41PM
Dow Jones News
By Kirk Maltais
--Soybeans for November delivery fell 1.7% to $12.24 a bushel on
the Chicago Board of Trade Thursday as funds reversed course when
energy prices slid.
--Corn for December delivery fell 1.3% to $5.32 1/4 a
bushel.
--Wheat for December delivery fell 1.1% to $7.41 1/4 a
bushel.
HIGHLIGHTS
Turnaround: Large fund traders were actively piling into CBOT
grain futures Wednesday, but not so much on Thursday. "The bottom
line is that yesterday's strength was more about money flow coming
into the commodities in an inflation play than it was the
fundamentals of supply and demand, even though several of the
commodities do have a story," said Arlan Suderman of StoneX.
Energy Curveball: Soybeans suffered the most in Thursday's
session, pressured by weakness in soyoil futures due to crude oil
prices falling. Natural gas prices also fell today, down 1.1% to
$5.115/mmBtu after the EIA reported a bearish weekly rise in gas
inventories. It said gas-in-storage rose last week by 92 billion
cubic feet, above expectations of analysts surveyed by The Wall
Street Journal. The uptick is seen as reflecting weak consumption
rates as mild weather limits any heating demand.
INSIGHTS
Prolonged Lift: Higher global energy costs are expected to keep
prices for agricultural commodities higher throughout most of 2022,
according to the World Bank. However, the uptick seen in
commodities will turn around as supply chain difficulties work
themselves out, the bank said in its outlook on Thursday. "Recent
volatility in prices may complicate policy choices as countries
recover from last year's global recession," said Ayhan Kose with
the World Bank.
On the Water: Barge movement picked up this month, the USDA
reported in its latest grain transportation report. "Downbound
barged grain movements and barge-unload operations in the New
Orleans region appear to have gradually recovered from Hurricane
Ida's impacts, including damaged hopper barges among other
logistical challenges, as the grain harvest has progressed," said
the USDA. The agency reports that for the week ending October 16,
barged grain movements totaled 813,670 tons, up 38% from the
previous week and 8% higher than the same period last year. Also,
42 oceangoing grain vessels were loaded in the Gulf for the week
ended October 14, 27% more than last year.
Soy Surge: Export sales of U.S. soybeans surged this week,
driven mostly by China. For the week ended October 14, sales
totaled 2.88 million metric tons for the 2021/22 marketing year -
driven largely by 1.88 million tons sold to China for the week.
Other leading buyers for the week were unknown destinations, the
Netherlands, Egypt and Bangladesh. Grain traders surveyed by The
Wall Street Journal this week had forecast soybean sales to total
between 1.2 million tons to 2.5 million tons. Last week, soybean
sales totaled 1.15 million tons.
AHEAD:
--The USDA will release its monthly Cattle on Feed report at 3
p.m. ET Friday.
--The USDA will release its monthly cold storage report at 3
p.m. ET Friday.
--The CFTC will release its weekly commitment of traders report
at 3:30 p.m. ET Friday.
Dan Molinski contributed to this article.
Write to Kirk Maltais at kirk.maltais@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 21, 2021 15:26 ET (19:26 GMT)
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