Soybeans Continue Their Slump

Soybeans slumped for a 4th day in a row while corn and wheat were holding on to modest gains going into the morning session. Crude oil and equity futures were also lower as the US dollar rose half a percent in the night session.

Weather forecasts have been turning more favorable for grains this week as the heat once predicted for the Midwest has now pushed to the Western United States and left the Cornbelt showing mostly normal temperatures through June 25. Likewise, precipitation forecasts out for that same time period put the likelihood of precipitation in the Western Cornbelt into the Northern tier states of IL/IN/OH at above normal to the end of next week.

Yesterday, NOPA’s monthly crush figure for May came in well above expectations with the May soybean crush at 153.8 MB versus trade estimates of only 149.7 MB. That is the largest crush number for May in history. Likewise, EIA’s weekly ethanol production was also a record coming in at 1.01 million barrels per day.

Export activity was brisk overnight. Saudi Arabia was in the market for 300,000 MT of hard wheat, while India was tendering for 50,000 MT of corn. Two South Korea feed millers bought corn overnight. One bought 130,0000 MT of optional origin corn while another bought 55,000 MT of US origin corn.

Crude oil continues to slump, off $5 a barrel from its recent highs last week. Uncertainty over the Brexit vote on June 23 and the seemingly likely exit of Britain from the Eurozone has kept markets on edge.

WEEKLY EXPORT SALES

Act-OC Exp-OC Act-NC Exp-NC

Corn 909 900-1,200 178 200-400

Soybeans 816 400-600 768 600-800

Wheat 762 250-450

The risk of trading futures, hedging, and speculating can be substantial. Grain Hedge is a Branch of Foremost Trading LLC (NFA ID: 0307930)

—Kevin McNew