October 29, 2005

 

CBOT Corn Review on Friday: Again make new lows in quiet activity

 

 

Corn futures at the Chicago Board of Trade settled at slightly lower levels Friday, slipping to new contract lows once more as the market continues to work its way lower in the absence of fresh fundamental news, sources said.

 

December corn settled 3/4 cent lower at US$1.97 per bushel, March corn also lost 3/4 cent to US$2.10 1/2, and May corn slipped 3/4 cent to US$2.19 1/4 per bushel.

 

"The market continues to trend lower as it struggles to get its arms around the large new crop supply and the lack of fresh news," a floor broker said. There continues to be concerns about the impact of bird flu on demand as well, he added.

 

December, March and May all made new life-of-contract lows, continuing the pattern established earlier in the week, with spot-month December making another new low near the close. December and March futures settled lower every day this week.

 

There's no real urgency to buying corn right now. End-users are buying hand-to-mouth, a cash-connected broker said.

 

Near-term weather forecasts expect favorable weather over the next several days across much of the U.S. Midwest, according to DTN Meteorlogix weather, allowing producers to continue harvesting the U.S. corn crop.

 

Weaker soybean and wheat futures had little impact on corn as the market follows its own path. November soybeans declined 6 cents to US$5.65, with December wheat ending at its lowest level since Aug. 31, falling 6 3/4 cents to US$3.17 3/4.

 

Buyers on Friday included Citigroup buying 200 March and 100 May, Fimat buying 700 March, Goldenberg Hehmeyer buying 200 December, Tenco buying 300 March and UBS buying 200 March.

 

Sellers Friday included Cargill selling 300 March, FC Stone selling 200 December and 100 May, Refco Investor services selling 200 December, Calyon Financial selling 200 December and Tenco selling 500 December.

 

In options trading, Cargill bought 300 March US$2.00 calls.

 

Oat futures settled near unchanged levels, shrugging off the losses set in wheat. The December contract edged 1/4 cent lower to US$1.62 3/4 per bushel.

 

Ethanol futures finished unchanged to higher, with the January contract unchanged at US$1.90 cents per gallon.

 

In other corn news, Argentina's corn farmers had planted 58% of its corn crop, higher than the 55% planted a week ago but below the 64% sown a year ago at this time despite 8.7% fewer hectares planted, the Agriculture Secretariat said. The Secretariat estimates the area planted at 3.057 million hectares compared to 3.336 million hectares last year.

 

On Monday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is scheduled to release export inspections at 10 a.m. CST (1600 GMT) and weekly crop progress at 15:00 p.m. CST (2100 GMT).