December corn settled nearly unchanged on the day but spent most of the day in positive territory before turning lower into the close as outside market liquidation became too much for the corn bulls.
US Stocks, crude oil, and metals were sharply lower on the day.
Corn basis in the Gulf of Mexico was steady to slightly weaker on poor export demand but basis in the interior of the US remains strong vs. historical levels.
Firm cash corn markets in Argentina added strength to futures to end the week in addition to fears that Ukraine's corn production may be overstated by the USDA at 21 million tonnes.
A closely followed private grain analyst released their 2013 corn planting and production intentions midday and pegged corn planting at 97.536 million acres which was practically unchanged from their previous estimate. Corn production saw a very modest decline and was pegged at 14.620 billion bushels.
The market sentiment felt positive for most of the day but very poor trade in the outside markets weighed on corn towards the end of the session.
Wheat Futures Closed Higher
December Wheat finished up 4 at 872 1/2, 13 off the high and 6 1/2 up from the low. March Wheat closed up 3 at 883 3/4. This was 5 1/4 up from the low and 13 1/2 off the high.
December Chicago wheat ended the day with modest gains but well off the session highs that were put in place early this morning. Wheat surged overnight and this morning after newswires reported that the Ukraine Ag Minister announced they plan on banning wheat exports by November 15th.
Traders also speculated that Russia might be the next country to announce export restrictions this year. The news was of little surprise to many traders in the market since the Black Sea is already overpriced in the Middle East and North Africa.
Russia reported midday that they had reaped 39.5 million tonnes of wheat as of October 19th with harvest 99% complete which is a 32% decline from last year.
The USDA currently has Russia wheat production pegged at 38 million tonnes. A closely followed private grain analyst released their all wheat planting and production forecast for 2013 midday. The group pegged planted acreage at 56.812 million acres vs. 57.127 previously.
Production was cut from 2.307 billion bushels to 2.293 billion bushels and the cut in production was considered slightly positive.
Soybean Futures Closed Lower
November Soybeans finished down 11 1/4 at 1534 1/4, 21 1/2 off the high and 2 up from the low. January Soybeans closed down 9 3/4 at 1536 1/2. This was 2 up from the low and 20 1/2 off the high.
December Soymeal closed up 0.5 at 463.8. This was 3.0 up from the low and 4.4 off the high.
December Soybean Oil finished down 0.72 at 51.58, 0.89 off the high and 0.08 up from the low.
November soybeans erased early gains this morning after outside markets fell apart and ended up closing in negative territory and near the lows of the day. Additional pressure stemmed from reports that officials in Argentina expect soybean production to be near 55-58 million tonnes in 2012/13. The USDA has corn production for Argentina at 55 million tonnes.
A closely followed private analyst reported that they expect 2013 soybean planting to rise to 79.98 million acres vs. previous forecasts of 79.87. Production was also increased to 3.453 billion bushels vs. 3.449 billion previously. The news was considered slightly bearish which added to the downside momentum.
Long term support continues to be found in strong basis levels in the US Corn Belt as well as robust demand from China.
Additional sell pressure into the close was linked to profit taking ahead of the weekend.
