December 6, 2021

Corn closed 2 cents lower nearby and fractionally mixed in the deferred months. Trading ranges 8-10 cents. Funds were sellers of 4,000 contracts at mid-day and are estimated long 327,000 contracts. Pressure through the session tied to selling ahead of Thursday’s S&D report. The trade expects a slight reduction in ending stocks to 1.475 bln. bu. Slight increase in demand expected, with leanings toward ethanol improving vs. exports. Production should stay unchanged. Trade does not expect any changes in S. American production, though weather is not ideal in Argentina. Weekly export inspections at 29.9 mln. bu. bringw YTD inspections to 369 mln. bu. vs. 440 mln. bu. last year. The DOW is up 600 points and crude oil futures are up $3.50 at $69.85 on news stories leaning towards Omicron not being as bad as earlier reported. News regarding China leans negative on Winter Olympic issues regarding diplomats attending the games and China becoming increasingly less forthcoming with economic news, statistics, and conditions. China is thought to be buying U.S. corn in addition to Ukrainian corn at the same time they reported record corn production.

Wheat rallied back during the day session to close 2 cents higher. There seems nothing new in the wheat arena today, funds were sellers of 3,000 contracts at mid-day and hold an estimated long position of 22,000 contracts, and weekly inspections came in at 9.0 mln. bu. and bring YTD inspections to 410 mln. bu. vs. 495 mln. bu. last year. WZ/WH steady at -9¼.

Soybeans closed 4-6 cents lower but off session lows in a 20-cent trading range. Funds were active sellers of 6,000 contracts at mid-day and hold an estimated long position of 45,000 soybean contracts. Funds were sellers of SBM and buyers of SBO and are long both commodities. China picked up 130 tmt of U.S. soybeans in sales announcement this morning. China is thought to be an active buyer of U.S. and Brazil origin beans. The December S&D report is expected to show an increase in U.S. ending stocks to 355 mln. bu., though there are longer term expectations for this level to grow appreciably. S. American production levels are expected to remain unchanged in the S&D report but Argentine/southern Brazil are working on a drying trend and will need watching moving forward. Weekly U.S. export inspections were 82.6 mln. bu. and bring YTD inspections to 866 mln. bu. vs. 1,097 bln. bu. last year.