November 29, 2005

 

CBOT Corn Outlook on Tuesday: Slightly lower, following soybeans

 

 

Corn futures at the Chicago Board of Trade are expected to begin at trading slightly lower levels as the lack of fresh news limits corn to the role of a follower on Tuesday, sources said.

 

In overnight e-CBOT trading, December corn finished 3/4 cent lower at US$1.87 per bushel, March slipped 1/4 cent to US$2.01 1/2, and May ended down 1 cent at US$2.09 1/2 per bushel.

 

There isn't any fresh news out this morning, so corn will follow the soy markets, a floor analyst said. The only news is that another two cases of bird flu were reported in China and that's not a positive, he noted. In addition, both the December and May contracts set fresh contact lows in overnight activity.

 

China reported 2 new outbreaks of bird flu among poultry flocks in the northwestern region of Xinjiang and the province of Hunan, the Agriculture Ministry said Tuesday. China has reported 24 outbreaks of bird flu in recent weeks.

 

Cash corn basis bids were unchanged to higher Tuesday morning. Central, Illinois was up 2 cents at 10 cents over December futures, while St. Louis was unchanged at 12 cents over December futures.

 

On technical charts, analysts peg first resistance for March corn at US$2.02 3/4, and then at US$2.05. First support is pegged at the contract low of US$2.01 1/4, and then at US$2.00.

 

Large non-commercial traders were net short almost 36,000 futures and options on futures contracts as of Nov. 22, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission reported Monday. The report was delayed a day due to the holiday.

 

In other corn news, Ukraine has harvested 7.21 million metric tonnes of corn through Nov. 28 on 1.65 million hectares, or 96% of the total area to be harvested, the Agriculture Ministry announced.

 

Taiwan Sugar Corp. (TSC) purchased 23,000 metric tonnes of No. 2 yellow U.S. corn from trading house Agrex, a trader in Taipei said.

 

Corn futures on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange settled mostly higher with the most active September contract up RMB2/tonne to RMB1,275/tonne.