Corn
At the close, March corn futures were 7 ½ cents lower to settle at 463 ¾, that’s a new closing low. A stronger US Dollar, friendly weather in South America, and a bearish reversal in energies didn’t offer any help.
Friday’s Commitment of Traders report showed Managed Money holding a net short position of roughly 178,000 futures and options contracts. One of their largest net short positions since June of 2020.
Weekly export inspections for corn were reported at 569,735 metric tons (22,429,469 bushels), within the range of expectations but well below the 1,227,239 metric tons we saw in the previous week.
Soybeans
Soybeans saw heavy pressure following a gap lower open, the most actively traded March contract settled 24 ½ cents lower to 1273 ½, the lowest settlement since the end of June. Much needed precipitation for parts of Brazil over the holiday weekend was likely the biggest culprit in today’s weakness followed by a risk off trade as the US dollar saw sharp gains while energies and equities reversed.
The USDA released their crush report today. Soybeans crushed for crude oil was 6.00 million tons (200 million bushels, in line with estimates) in November 2023, compared with 6.04 million tons (201 million bushels) in October 2023 and 5.69 million tons (190 million bushels) in November 2022. Crude oil produced was 2.32 billion pounds down 2 percent from October 2023 but up 6 percent from November 2022. Soybean once refined oil production at 1.71 billion pounds during November 2023 decreased 9 percent from October 2023 but increased 5 percent from November 2022. -USDA
Funds were seen trimming their net long position to just 4,767 futures and options contracts in Friday’s Commitment of Traders report. Last week marked the sixth consecutive week of selling from funds. With recent weakness, it’s very likely funds are now into net short territory
Weekly export inspections for soybeans were reported at 961,694 metric tons (35,336,195 bushels), within the range of expectations but below the 1,117,747 metric tons we saw in the previous week.
Wheat
Wheat futures tagged along in the weaker trade with the March Chicago contract settling 21 ¼ cents lower to 606 ¾.
Weekly export inspections for corn were reported at 273,671 metric tons (10,055,685 bushels), within the range of expectations but below the 461,431 metric tons we saw in the previous week.