Markets

Daily Market Wire 20 April 2021

Lachstock Consulting, April 20, 2021

Row crops firmed around 1 per cent.  Wheat markets were mixed.

  • Chicago wheat May contract down US0.25c/bu to 652.25c;
  • Kansas wheat May contract up 2.75c/bu to 612c;
  • Minneapolis wheat May contract up 0.25c/bu to 664.5c;
  • MATIF wheat May contract down €1.25/t to €216.50/t ;
  • Corn May contract up 6.5c/bu to 592;
  • Soybeans May contract up 16.5c/bu to 1449.75c;
  • Winnipeg canola May contract down C$1.10/t to $832.30;
  • MATIF rapeseed May contract up €21.50/t to €530.75/t;
  • US dollar index down 0.1 to 91.1;
  • AUD firmer at US$0.776;
  • CAD weaker at $1.253;
  • EUR firmer at $1.204;
  • ASX wheat May contract up $2.50/t to $293.50/t;
  • ASX wheat January 2022 up $1.60/t to $306/t.

International

Row crop’s continued to hold gains through the session last night with corn up 6.5¢ and beans +16.5¢ (Winnipeg -$1.1, Matif +21.5€ K, +8.75€ N). Wheat was mixed with Chicago off a quarter cent, KC +2 3/4¢, Minny +1/4¢, and Matif -1.25€ on the earlier close. Crude oil was up another quarter to $63.4 WTI / $67.1 Brent and the DOW dropped 118 points.  The AUD has kicked to 77.6¢ with the weaker USD, with the CAD at $1.253 and the EUR $1.204.

Coronavirus cases continue to surge in India even as Europe looks towards some possible easing of restrictions.

Large moves in US hog prices have triggered another increase in futures price limits. From tomorrow the daily limit will be US4.5 cents per pound.

Regular weekly export inspections from the US brought no surprises. Corn exports were 1.5Mt, wheat 0.6Mt, beans at just under 0.2Mt and 0.314Mt milo/sorghum.  The milo/sorghum inspections imply that there’s under 0.4Mt of remaining (declared) sales to China relative to last week’s sales figures. But there’s still a massive chunk of ‘unknown destination’ sales reported on the books.

Chinese reserve auctions on wheat are making headlines again after the traded level dropped to just over 10 per cent, the lowest in many weeks, most of the grain offered reportedly being feed grade.

The US crop progress report was also released after the close, with winter wheat good-to-excellent rating unchanged at 53pc, corn planting at 8pc, and beans planting at 3pc, all of which were about as expected.  Spring wheat planting at 19pc continues to reflect the warm/dry conditions across the northern Plains. That’s the other side of the drought coin that has been in play there.

Frost concerns continue to circulate for the southern Plains of the US with cold weather forecast through tonight and worries about frost nip.  Forecasts are calling for an inch of snow across the western Hard Red Winter wheat belt into the western corn belt mid-week, with lows around 20F, although many are expecting the snow and short duration to keep soil temperatures from dropping substantially.

In a reflection of the messy trade flows this year in the EU (after the tighter crops and rally in feed grains) Reuters is reporting on a bulk wheat cargo heading from Romania to Dunkirk this week, with some speculation that it may see some of the grain delivered against the Matif board.

Black Sea region weather maps still looking good for later this week for most of the winter wheat belt with a fairly widespread inch forecast.

Australia

Local markets were a touch firmer yesterday to start the week for new crop. Old crop volume picked up slightly as exporters looked to cover some front end demand.

New crop wheat and barley bids were up $3-4/t.  WA canola was bid $725/t.

Weather maps were holding dry with no substantial changes, but extended runs are pulling back slightly on the rainfall chances for WA into next week.

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