Futures Close Report: 30th May 2017
- USDA Plantings:
- US Corn 91% Planted up from 84% last week slightly under 5 year average of 93%;
- US Soybeans 67% planted up from 53% last week slightly under 5 year average of 68%.
- USDA Crop Condition:
- US Corn reported 65% good to excellent – vs 72% last year and below analyst expectations (68%);
- US Winter Wheat reported 50% good to excellent vs 52% last week and Spring wheat seen as 62% good / excellent well below analyst estimates for 71%.
China’s soybean importers are pushing to postpone or cancel cargoes mainly ordered from suppliers in Brazil as they are incurring losses processing the commodity into cooking oil and animal feed ingredient. China, which buys around 60% of soybeans traded worldwide, took advantage of strong crushing profits at the beginning of the year and lower prices following bumper harvests in Brazil to aggressively buy the oilseed. Those profits, however, have swung to the biggest losses in nearly three years after China’s edible oil markets were flooded with rapeseed oil auctioned from national reserves and by growing imports of other alternative vegetable oils. Chinese bean imports stood at 8.02 million tonnes in April, a record for the month, customs data showed. That marked the fourth straight time imports had set records for their respective months. Imports in May and June are expected to hit around 9 to 9.5 million tonnes as previously booked cargoes arrive.
