Corn futures are 1 to 3 cents lower to start the last trading day of the week. Preliminary OI confirmed yesterday’s rally was mostly short covering, with open interest plunging 30,395 contracts. On Thursday, corn futures ended the day with 2.5% to 3.5% gains. In the weekly export sales report corn bookings were 377,188 MT for old crop and 553,144 MT for new crop. Of the old crop sales, China purchased 76,500 MT, but South Korea was the largest buyer on the week. China was the top destination for the week’s corn exports, with 30% of the total 1.333 MMT shipped. New crop export sales commitments (~451 million bushels) are the largest since 1996 for this date. China has been a modest buyer to date, but prices for their reserve auctions to continue to run comfortably over $7 per bushel.
--- provided by Brugler Marketing & Management
Soybeans are 3 to 4 cents lower this morning after gaining double digits per bushel on Thursday. Preliminary OI dropped 2,199 contracts on the Thursday rally, some mild profit taking. There were another 36 contracts delivered against August bean futures overnight, stopped 100% by commercials. The oldest long is still dated August 5. Soymeal futures closed yesterday with sharp $7.90 to $8.30/ton gains. Soy oil futures were 33 to 40 points lower at the closing bell. From the weekly Export Sales report 570,100 MT of old crop beans were booked. China purchased 73.8% of the total on the week, with none of it showing up in the daily reporting systsem. New crop purchases were also above expectations with 2.84 MMT. China booked 1.71 MMT (with 1.17 MMT already known). The new crop export sales commitments are the largest for this date since 2014. Analysts estimate 172 mbu of beans were processed by NOPA crushers in July. NOPA member bean oil stocks are estimated at 1.688b lbs as of July 31.
--- provided by Brugler Marketing & Management
Wheat markets start the Friday session with Minneapolis futures 2 cents higher. The other two US markets are fractionally lower. At the close on Thursday, Chicago futures were 5 1/2 to 6 1/2 cents higher. KC HRW futures were up by 6 to 7 1/4 cents on Thursday. Spring wheat futures rallied 2 to 4 3/4 cents on the day. The weekly Export Sales report noted 357,900 MT of wheat booked on the week ending August 6. That was down 39% wk/wk and 20% below the same week last year. Accumulated commitments through the first 10 weeks are 7.78% ahead of last year’s pace. Egypt’s GASC purchased 415,000 MT of Russian wheat in their tender on Thursday. Jordan issued an international wheat tender for 120k MT.
--- provided by Brugler Marketing & Management
On Thursday, cattle futures closed 27 to 70 cents higher in the 2020 contracts. The deferred futures were down 12 to 27 cents. USDA noted light Thursday cash trading from $103 to $106. The bulk of the week’s trades have been $104-$105 in the South and mostly $104-107 in the North. Dressed sales have been mostly $165-170 so far this week. Feeder cattle futures closed down by 30 to 62 cents on Thursday. The August 11 Feeder Cattle Index from CME rebounded 20 cents to $142.62. Beef export sales from the week ending August 6 were 11,599 MT. That was down 13% wk/wk and 28% below bookings from the same week in 2019. Wholesale boxed beef prices were higher again in the PM report, widening the Chc/Sel spread to $13.54. Choice boxes were up $1.86, and Select was $1.42 higher. USDA estimates WTD cattle slaughter at 465k head through Thursday. That trails last year by 1,000 head.
--- provided by Brugler Marketing & Management
Lean hog futures closed the Thursday session with gains of 20 to 80 cents. August hog futures expire at the close today. The Lean Hog Index from CME was $53.82 for August 11, which was a 3 cent increase. USDA’s National Average Base Hog price for Thursday afternoon was quoted at $37.51, down by 17 cents. The Weekly Export Sales report had pork bookings at a low 10,481 MT for the week ending August 6. That was about half of the same week yr/yr, and the lowest since COVID-19 afflicted sales in May. Weekly shipments were 34,900 MT, which was 1.5% higher wk/wk and up 32% on the year. USDA’s National Pork Carcass Cutout value was up $1.32 to $73.76. USDA estimated 1.874 million hogs slaughtered WTD through Thursday. That trails the same week last year by 23k head.
--- provided by Brugler Marketing & Management
Cotton starts the Friday session 16 to 23 points higher. On Thursday, front month cotton futures closed 59 to 79 points higher. For the first week of the MY, cotton export sales were 6,891 RBs, with 2.883m RBs in unshipped sales from 19/20 rolled over to 2020/21. New Crop commitments are at 6.289M RBs to start the MY. Cotton exports on the week were 322,167 RBs, down 24,592 RBs wk/wk. The week’s sales on The Seam through Wednesday were 3,075 bales at an average gross price of 61.95 cents/lb. The Cotlook A index for Aug 12 was up another 50 points to 69.5 cents/lb. The fresh AWP for cotton is 48.92 cents/lb, after a 52 point drop. The new LDP for the week is 3.08 cents/lb. through next Thursday.
--- provided by Brugler Marketing & Management