Soybeans fall 40¢, corn down 17¢ | Thursday, August 19, 2021

Outside markets are unfavorable for the grain prices.

On Thursday, the CME Group’s farm markets fall hard on better Midwest crop reports and rainfall.

At the close, the Sept. corn futures settled 11½¢ lower at $5.50. New-crop Dec. futures are 14¢ lower at $5.50. March corn futures closed 14¢ lower at $5.58¼.

Sept. soybean futures settled 35¼¢ lower at $13.23.

Nov. soybean futures closed 33¼¢ lower at $13.20. January soybean futures closed 32¾¢ lower at $13.24.

Sept. wheat futures finished 9¾¢ lower at $7.27½.

Dec. soymeal futures closed $6.70 per short ton lower at $353.60.

Dec. soy oil futures ended 1.56¢ lower at 59.92¢ per pound.

In the outside markets, the NYMEX crude oil market is 1.82 lower (-2.78%) at $63.64. The U.S. dollar is higher, and the Dow Jones Industrials are 173 points lower (-0.49%) at 34,787 points.

On Thursday, private exporters reported to the U.S. Department of Agriculture the following activity:

• Export sales of 263,000 metric tons of soybeans for delivery to China during the 2021/2022 marketing year.
• Export sales of 148,590 metric tons of soybeans for delivery to Mexico during the 2021/2022 marketing year.

The marketing year for soybeans began Sept. 1.

Separately, the USDA’s Weekly Export Sales Report Thursday shows decent demand figures for corn.

Corn = 726,500 metric tons (mt.) vs. the trade’s expectations of 100,000 to 900,000 mmt.

Soybeans = 2.20 mmt. vs. the trade’s expectation of 100,000 to 1.80 mmt.

Wheat = 306,700 mt. vs. the trade’s expectation of 250,000 to 700,000 mt.

Soybean meal = 177,000 mt. vs. the trade’s expectation of 50,000 to 200,000 mt.

Jenny Wackershauser, ever. ag, says that after a quiet week of consolidating trade with little new information, a wetter forecast for the western Corn Belt seems to be triggering a technical sell-off across the grain complex.

“Led by soybeans and soy oil, we have broken through some technical support and moving averages. However, long term, we are still trading within recent normal ranges. The Pro-Ag crop tour has been reporting yields about where we expected with the west showing lighter yields and the east seeing some of the highest yields in the last three to five years.”

She added, “Export orders from last week for soybeans followed through after several flash sales. Both corn and soybeans came in at the top side of trade expectations. As we have seen recently, a mix of bearish and bullish news is keeping us range-bound, but the sellers are winning the day.”

Bob Linneman, Kluis Advisors, says that investors are glancing at this week’s crop tour results.

“Wednesday ended in favor of the bears in the corn and soybean markets. All three classes of wheat were able to stay positive at the close. The USDA report one week ago gave the bulls some much-needed news to push higher, but now we are right back to where prices were before the report came out. Traders are taking risk premium out of prices as we approach harvest. World supplies are high enough that we don’t need to push prices higher with what we know today,” Linneman stated in a note to customers.

Linneman added, “Field reports are suggesting improved yield forecasts vs. what was thought at the beginning of the month. Crop tours across the Midwest should highlight the good and not-so-good areas throughout the week. The slow pace of new-crop exports is still the primary story for corn and soybeans.”

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Tags: corn, soybean futures, corn futures, soybeans, CME Group, wheat, CME Group's farm markets, soy oil