Agriculture Futures Preview

Argentine grain farmers call national sales halt

Argentine farmers announced a 1-wk nationwide halt to grain sales Tuesday to protest higher taxes in Key farming province Buenos Aires, a move that lifted US Soybean futures as traders braced for tight supplies.

Already upset about the national government’s policy of Wheat and Corn export curbs that hurt profits, growers say the tax increase will force some of them to sell their fields.

Russia 2012 grain output seen at 88-M tons

Following are selected highlights from a report issued by a US Department of Agriculture attache in Russia:

“FAS/Moscow forecasts grain production in Russia in Y 2012 at 88-M tons. This includes a forecast of 54-M tons for Wheat, 16-M tons for Barley and 6.5-M tons for Corn. Wheat production is expected to fall from last year as a result of Spring dryness in Key producing regions.

LTN’s closing Grain comments

Bullish fundamentals meeting interested investors

Wednesday’s action was a case study of how markets can explode when investors open their wallets to buy fundamentally bullish commodities. Old-crop Corn and soybeans exploded to the upside on tightening supply outlooks. Wheat remained in its follower role lagging behind most other markets.

US Agriculture after the Closing Bell Report

Chicago Wheat finised 0.075 to 0.11 higher, Kansas City Wheat was 0.0975 to 0.195 higher and Minneapolis Qheat closed 0.08 to 0.1525 higher. Price action in after-hours trade was choppy, as some contracts gained and others softened from the settlement levels. Sharp weakness in the USD index due to expectations the Federal Reserve would announce some kind of stimulus sooner rather than later resulted in a risk-on attitude in commodities

Corn futures rallied into the close of pit trade to finish at or near session highs Wednesday, with gains of 0.1875 in the Jul contract while other contracts were around 0.11 to 0.13 higher. Futures mildly trimmed gains in after-hours trade. A sharply lower USD thanks to speculation another round of quantitative easing (QE-3) may lie ahead gave traders reason to cover Short positions Wednesday

Soybean futures posted strong gains today, settling 0.09 to 0.3675 higher with old-crop contracts leading gains. Gains were mildly trimmed in after-hours trade. Funds bought an estimated 8,000 contracts, 40-M bu of Soybeans Wednesday. Outside markets were supportive as were weather concerns and news of a daily Soybean sale to China for CY 2011-12.

Lean Hog futures closed 0.10 to 1.125 higher, which was an upper-range close in most contracts. Hog futures rode a wave of outside market support to price gains Wednesday. Support also came from the cash Hog market, which was steady to firmer at most Midwest locations despite highly negative packer margins.

Jun live Cattle settled high-range with a gainer of 0.55. The rest of the Y 2012 contracts finished low-range with gains of 0.10 to 0.175. Traders in the Cattle market engaged in some cautious short-covering as they waited for cash Cattle trade to begin. Traders appear comfortable with nearby contracts’ discount to last week’s mostly 121.00 cash trade, as they question the sustainability of boxed Beef demand with prices near record highs.

Original Article Here