BS: Corn, Soybeans, Wheat Called to Open Lower on Dollar (Update1)
By Jeff Wilson and Tony C. Dreibus
March 18 (Bloomberg) -- What follows are opening calls for U.S. grain and oilseed markets.
-- Corn futures are called to open 2 cents to 4 cents a bushel lower on the Chicago Board of Trade as the dollar rose against 13 of 16 major currencies, reducing investor demand for commodities, said Christian Mayer, a Northstar Commodity Investment Co. analyst in Minneapolis.
-- Soybean futures may open 5 cents to 7 cents a bushel lower in Chicago as the rising dollar encourages speculators to reduce bets on higher prices following a three-day rally, Mayer said. Soybean-meal futures may open $1 to $2 lower per 2,000 pounds, and soybean oil is expected to open 0.3 cent to 0.4 cent a pound lower, Mayer said.
-- Wheat futures may open down 2 cents to 4 cents a bushel on the CBOT, the Kansas City Board of Trade and the Minneapolis Grain Exchange as the dollar’s strength reduces investor demand for commodities as a hedge against inflation, Mayer said.
-- U.S. exporters in the week through March 11 sold 747,600 metric tons of corn for delivery in the year ending Aug. 31, more than double sales of about 338,600 tons a week earlier, the Department of Agriculture said today. Wheat sales fell 20 percent from the previous week to 325,300 tons for delivery by May 31, and shippers sold 214,100 tons of soybeans for the year through August, the USDA said.
-- The euro weakened and Greek equities and debt securities fell on concern that a plan to resolve a fiscal crisis in the region’s most indebted country may unravel. The yen and dollar appreciated while oil declined. {NXTW NSN KZH6I51A1I4H }
-- Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou set a one-week deadline for the European Union to craft a financial aid mechanism for Greece, challenging Germany to give up its doubts about a rescue package. {NXTW NSN KZH7S407SXKY }
-- The combination of record mutual-fund inflows and the world’s strongest economic-growth rates is failing to lift shares in the largest developing nations, with valuations at the highest levels versus those in advanced countries since at least 1995. {NXTW NSN KZGNXC1A1I4H }
-- India, the world’s second-biggest wheat grower, has “no immediate plan” to lift a ban on exports and will instead boost open-market sales and increase supplies to the poor to pare stockpiles, Farm Minister Sharad Pawar said. {NXTW NSN KZGWBI1A1I4H }
-- A weakening of the El Nino climate pattern is a “positive sign” for India’s seasonal monsoon, making a repeat of last year’s drought unlikely, a weather bureau official said. {NXTW NSN KZH6PE0D9L37 }
-- India, the world’s biggest potash importer, will offer a higher price than China for overseas purchases of the fertilizer to ensure supplies, two government officials said yesterday. {NXTW NSN KZGEH31A1I4H }
-- Kazakhstan is considering doubling the subsidies offered for grain exports to $40 a ton, Talgat Makhanov, a spokesman for the Astana-based agriculture ministry, said by telephone. {NXTW NSN KZH3IB6N9EDD }
-- Algeria bought 300,000 tons of wheat for $190 a ton on a cost-and-freight basis for delivery in May or June, French farm adviser Agritel said, without saying where it got the information. {NXTW NSN KZGUV80YHQ0X }
-- Japan, Asia’s biggest wheat buyer, today purchased 136,000 tons of the grain for milling, with delivery in May, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said. {NXTW NSN KZGUL21A74E9 }
-- Standard & Poor’s is “shooting for April” to start its World Commodity Index, which won’t include U.S. raw materials, said Michael McGlone, a senior director of commodities at the company in New York. {NXTW NSN KZH3NY07SXKX }
-- Palm oil fell to the lowest price in almost six weeks on the Malaysia Derivatives Exchange as India and China, the biggest consumers and buyers, may be delaying purchases after building stockpiles. {NXTW NSN KZH5JT0YHQ0X }
-- Corn prices in South Africa, the continent’s largest producer of the grain, fell as the rand climbed, cutting the cost of imports for local millers. {NXTW NSN KZGWU81A1I4H }
-- China, the world’s biggest cotton importer, may increase purchases 30 percent this year, driving up global prices, as growers plant smaller fiber crops, a state-affiliated researcher said. {NXTW NSN KZH5MR0UQVI9 }
--Editors: Ted Bunker, Steve Stroth.
To contact the reporters on this story: Jeff Wilson in Chicago at jwilson29@bloomberg.net; Tony Dreibus in Chicago at tdreibus@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steve Stroth at sstroth@bloomberg.net.
