By Kirk Maltais

 

-- Wheat for March delivery fell 2.1% to $8.22 1/4 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade Monday amid a higher revision to the projected Australian crop by the country's agricultural bureau.

-- Corn for March delivery fell 1.6% to $5.82 1/4 a bushel.

-- Soybeans for January delivery fell 0.9% to $12.41 1/2 a bushel.

 

HIGHLIGHTS

 

Bumper Crop: CBOT wheat futures led the grains complex lower Monday after Australia's agricultural bureau said the country's crop is expected to be a record 34.4 million metric tons, up from previous estimates. In its last WASDE report, the USDA forecast Australian wheat production at 31.5 million tons.

"[The bureau's] crop estimates lean slightly bearish wheat and canola/rapeseed markets, but quality and logistics issues persist," said AgResource.

 

Variant Volatility: For the stock market, reconsideration about the threat of a new Covid-19 Omicron variant provided a lift for prices, although for grains support evaporated.

"The job of the markets over the coming days and weeks will be to assess whether Friday's selloff was justified, with perhaps more selling needed, or whether it was overdone, with a significant recovery needed," said Arlan Suderman of StoneX. "The ultimate question that must be answered is, how lethal is the new variant?"

 

INSIGHTS

 

Inspection Detection: Inspections of U.S. soybeans are slightly lower from the previous week, but are supported by strong exports to China. In its latest weekly grain export inspections report, the USDA said that inspections of soybeans totaled 2.14 million metric tons for the week ended Nov. 25, down slightly from 2.43 million tons reported last week.

Soybeans being inspected for China came in 1.39 million tons. Other leading destinations included Egypt, Mexico, Taiwan and Italy.

 

Right Place, Wrong Time?: Archer Daniels Midland said it completed its acquisition of a European soy producer, but the acquisition comes as at least one alternative meat producer recently cut its sales outlook. ADM said Monday that its acquisition of Serbia-based Sojaprotein marks a "significant expansion" of its "global alternative protein capabilities."

It is the latest move into alternative proteins for ADM, with the company adding new plants globally to produce proteins out of vegetables such as soybeans and peas.

Earlier in November, Beyond Meat cut its outlook for sales in the fourth quarter, causing some analysts to speculate that Beyond's business had reached market saturation faster than expected.

 

AHEAD

 

-- The USDA is scheduled to release its monthly agricultural prices report at 3 p.m. EST Tuesday.

-- The EIA is due to release its weekly ethanol production and stocks report at 10:30 a.m. EST Wednesday.

-- The USDA is scheduled to release its monthly grain crushings report at 3 p.m. EST Wednesday.

 

Write to Kirk Maltais at kirk.maltais@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 29, 2021 15:39 ET (20:39 GMT)

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