June 9, 2009

 

CBOT Corn Review on Monday: Ends lower on dollar, weather, demand

 

 

Chicago Board of Trade corn futures ended lower Monday on pressure from the dollar and what some saw as a weekend of bearish weather.

 

July corn ended down 9 cents at US$4.35 per bushel, September corn ended down 9 1/4 cents at US$4.44 3/4, and December corn ended down 9 1/2 cents at US$4.58.

 

Some traders said that the healthy rains in the western corn belt this weekend, with more expected this week, are good for the crop. But others said the weather is still bad for the crop in some instances.

 

"The other side of that is we're still going to have a fair amount of rain (in the eastern corn belt) the next few days, so the opportunity for some of these areas in the east that haven't been able to plant yet are kind of going to go out the window," said Marty Foreman, analyst for Doane Advisory Services.

 

A stronger dollar set the tonnee as commodities in general were weak, and analysts said corn doesn't have the demand to sustain continued upward movement.

 

Export sales have softened recently, and there are concerns about the livestock sector and questions about the ethanol industry, analysts said.

 

"There's no one making any money on US$4.50 corn," said Chad Henderson, analyst with Prime Ag Consultants.

 

Weekly export inspections reported Monday were lower than expected at 25.976 million bushels, down from 33.086 million last week. Analyst guesses ranged from 31 million to 39 million bushels.

 

The July contract ended just under its 200-day moving average, while the December contract held just above it. Funds sold an estimated 9,000 contracts.

 

The trade is expecting corn plantings to be 95% to 97% complete in Monday afternoon's crop progress report, with a good-to-excellent rating of 69% to 71%. The U.S. Department of Agriculture will release the report at 4 p.m. EDT.

 

The trade is also looking ahead to Wednesday's supply and demand report, which is expected to reflect reduced 2009-10 ending stocks due to this year's struggling crop.

 

CBOT oats fell Monday. July oats ended down 13 cents at US$2.43 per bushel, and December oats ended down 12 cents at US$2.66.

 

Ethanol futures ended lower. July ethanol ended down US$0.023 to US$1.742 per gallon, and September oats ended down US$0.020 at US$1.755.