August 26, 2006
 
CBOT Corn Review on Friday: Down on weekend position-squaring

After a quiet day of trade, corn futures at the Chicago Board of Trade fell on Friday, as traders squared positions going into the weekend.

Most-active December corn fell 2 1/2 cents to US$2.41 3/4 a bushel.

The market was generally weaker Friday, as a lack of fresh fundamental news weighed on prices. After the market put on nearly 10 cents from Monday's low to Friday's high, futures scaled back and consolidated those gains, analysts said. Corn tried to ride wheat's coattails as that market rallied, but there was little follow-through buying interest. After the market closed, Pro Farmer released its U.S. crop estimates. Pro Farmer on Friday estimated the 2006-07 U.S. corn crop at 10.862 billion bushels. The U.S. corn yield is seen at 151.5 bushels per acre.

This compares to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's projection of a 2006-07 corn crop of 10.975 billion bushels, based on an average yield of 152.2 bushels/acre, in its Aug. 11 report.

The Pro Farmer 2006-07 corn and soybean estimates released Friday are in no way associated with the John Deere/Pro Farmer Midwest crop tour or its participants. Pro Farmer said tour data was one of the factors taken into account, "but there is not a mutually exclusive correlation between tour data and the Pro Farmer crop estimates."

"These numbers are right around where I figured they'd be," said Sid Love of Joe Kropf/Sid Love Consulting. "Last year they were about a billion bushels light (of USDA's data). If they're going with a yield of 151.5 bushels per acre then I will probably be a little higher in my own estimates."

In 2005, Pro Farmer estimated the corn crop at 10.162 billion bushels, with a yield for 2005, as calculated by the group, at 136.6 bushels/acre for corn. USDA said the 2005 crop was 11.112 billion bushels.

In other news, Coast Guard reopened Mississippi River to limited barge traffic after three separate accidents closed the lower region of the river.

Corn buyers include SA Inc buying 400 December and Tenco buying 300 September. Sellers include Fimat selling 500 December; JP Morgan selling 200 September, 600 December and 1,000 December 2007. O'Connor selling 400 December.