Grains started the Sunday night session in positive territory with soybeans leading the complex higher, but by morning the market began to fade. Wheat and corn were in negative territory while soybeans held on to slim gains. In outside markets, crude was in positive territory after being off as much as $0.50 a barrel while the US dollar and stock futures had small gains.
In soybeans, prices continued to move higher hitting their highest mark since August. But, weakness in palm oil overnight kept soybean prices in check. Malaysian palm oil futures slid in early trade on Monday as a stronger ringgit and expectations for a drop in exports as an export tax restarts this month weighed on the market. The palm oil contract fell 0.7%.
In export news, three South Korean groups purchased a total 192,000 MT of corn set to be sourced from the United States or South America in private deals on Friday, European traders said on Monday. The deals followed a purchase of some 272,000 MT of corn also likely to be sourced optionally from the United States or South America by South Korea's largest feedmaker Nonghyup Feed Inc. (NOFI) in a tender which closed on Friday, traders said.
For wheat, rains looked more likely in key US HRW areas in the coming week with the best chance for rain in the window Apr 10-15. On Friday, Western KS had only about a 20% chance of rain during this time period but by Monday that probability had grown to about 60%.
In crude oil, Friday swathe latest US rig counts fall to 362 from 372 in the previous week marking the lowest weekly total since November 2009. However, Iran’s oil minister on Sunday said the country’s oil exports jumped again in March, potentially undermining a global deal to limit crude output and raise prices.
The risk of trading futures, hedging, and speculating can be substantial. Grain Hedge is a dba of Foremost Trading LLC (NFA ID: 0307930)
