November 30, 2010

CBOT soy declined and is set for the first monthly loss in five months due to concern that demand for soy may be waning as China, the world's largest buyer, cracks down on speculators.

January-delivery soybeans lost 0.3% to US$12.3175 a bushel on CBOT.

Soy for export is inspected at US ports. It fell 15.1% to 48.9 million bushels in the week to November 25, from a week earlier, USDA said. The US is the world's largest grower and exporter of the oilseed.

"On the bearish front, China continues to crack down on speculators whom it blames for forcing up the price of many commodities and causing inflation to rise," an analyst said.

The government has pledged to control prices and may increase interest rates for a second time this year to halt the fastest inflation in two years and to curb food costs that jumped 10.1% in October. China will also make buying and selling commodity futures more expensive to cool speculation.

China will sell 300,000 tonnes of soy in auctions on December 3, according to the Hefei National Grain Trade Center. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will work to increase supplies of cooking oil, sugar and cement to stabilize prices, the ministry added.

Wheat for March delivery decreased by 0.3% to US$6.885 a bushel, increasing the monthly loss for the most-active contract to 4.3%. Wheat for export inspected at US ports rose 4.3% to 20.8 million bushels in the week to November 25 from a week earlier, the USDA said. It shows that the total volume bound for shipment since June 1 is 548.9 million bushels, up 27.7% from the previous year.

About 47% of the US winter-wheat crop was rated good to excellent in the week ended November 28 and remained the same from a week earlier, the USDA said. That compares with a rating of 63% for the same period last year.

March-delivery corn declined 0.2% to US$5.52 a bushel, widening the monthly loss to 5.2%.