Thursday, March 6, 2008

Grains Higher Overnight

Wheat and corn are both solidly up during overnight trade, while soybeans are higher but somewhat more modestly. Malaysian palm oil was trading lower overnight, and this tends to reflect somewhat in the price of soybean oil, since soybean and palm oils have similar uses. Demand for this year's South American and North American soybean crops remain solid. Trading the weather will become the forces behind daily trading for the spring and summer months.

For the first time in several weeks, soybean prices are the weakest of the three grains. Note in this daily chart that there is some volume-based selling and that prices are substantially off their most recent highs near the $15.86/bushel area. Closing soybean prices remain barely above their exponential moving average in this chart.


Weekly export sales for soybeans, released before the open this morning, came in at 202,700 metric tonnes for the current marketing year and 1,900 for the next marketing year for a total of 204,600 metric tonnes. Meal sales came in at 75,600 metric tonnes for the current year and 300 metric tonnes for the next marketing year for a total of 75,900. Oil sales came in at 6,800 metric tonnes.