Soybeans started the week the same way they finished last week, heading lower. Corn and wheat were also under modest pressure. In outside markets, US equities and the dollar moved south as did crude oil.
Soybeans slid for a third straight session on Monday as forecasts of dry weather in Argentina's flooded crop areas eased concerns over harvest losses in the major exporter. The weather there over the next week is expected to be hot and dry, helping ease flooding issues. Last week, the Rosario grains exchange cut its forecast for the 2016/17 Argentine soybean crop to 52.9 MMT from 54.4 MMT previously. In Brazil, heavy rains have slowed soybean harvest and could put at risk some production from spoilage. Farmers institute, Imea, said the soy harvest in Mato Grosso was 11.9% complete on Friday, an advance of more than 6% over the past week.
A group of Israeli private buyers has issued international tenders to purchase up to 85,000 tonnes of corn and 40,000 tonnes of feed wheat. Egypt’s GASC bought 60,000 MT of Ukraine wheat. Offers came from Russia, Ukraine and Romania. SovEcon said in a note that Russia needs to find new markets for its grain exports and speed up its supplies abroad to ease pressure on the domestic market after a record crop of 119 MMT in 2016. Customs data shows Russia's December grain exports fell to 3.18 million tonnes from 4.05 million tonnes in November due to storms in ports and the rouble strengthening against the dollar.
The US Dollar felt some pressure for the first week of Trump’s presidency as traders expect his tax & fiscal stimulus policies to take time to enact and have yet to be spelled out by the new President. Also, a bow shot about American nationalism in his inauguration speech has the potential to cut into global trade.
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