October 26, 2007

 

Argentine soy up on CBOT; corn down on weak export demand

 

 

Argentine grain prices were mixed on the week at the Rosario Grain Exchange, with spot soy rising in line with the Chicago Board of Trade, while corn fell on weak exporter demand, analysts said Thursday (October 25, 2007).

 

Local soy prices followed the CBOT higher due to rising oil prices and the weak dollar, Roagro Analyst Carlos Boglioli said.

 

Spot soy sold for ARS820 (US$257.86) per tonne in Rosario Thursday, up from ARS815 a week ago.

 

May 2008 soy sold at US$240 per tonne, down from US$241 last week.

 

New-crop soy futures slipped as local processors stepped out of the market due to recent price gains, Boglioli said.

 

 

Corn

 

Spot corn was traded at ARS365 per tonne, down from ARS390 a week ago.

 

April 2008 corn sold at US$115 per tonne, up from US$110 last Thursday.

 

Slack demand from exporters weighed on corn prices, according to the Rosario exchange.

 

 

Wheat

 

Spot wheat sold for ARS580 per tonne Thursday, up from ARS590 a week ago.

 

January 2008 wheat closed at US$185 per tonne, unchanged from a week ago.

 

Grain exporters have bought up almost half of 2007-08 wheat crop expected to be available for export, despite the closure of the government's wheat export registry, according to the Agriculture Secretariat.

 

As of Oct. 17, exporters had bought 4.79 million tonnes of 2007-08 wheat. The USDA sees Argentina exporting 10 million tonnes of wheat from this season's crop.

 

In March, the government closed the registry for new wheat exports in the face of soaring export declarations. Companies had declared 8.8 million tonnes of wheat export commitments.

 

As the first fields of 2007-08 wheat are beginning to be harvested, the government is expected to open the export registry again very soon.