Market Snapshot | December 5, 2022

Corn futures are 3 to 4 cents lower at midsession.

• March corn erased overnight gains and fell to a 3 1/2-month low on eroding technicals and ongoing pressure from weak exports.
• USDA reported corn inspected for export during the week ended Dec. 1 at 524,313 MT (20.6 million bu.), down from 311,658 MT last week and within trade expectations ranging from 300,000 to 750,000 MT.
• China is set to announce the further easing of some of the world’s toughest Covid curbs as early as Wednesday, sources told Reuters. A new set of nationwide rules are due to be announced soon, two sources with knowledge of the matter said, paving the way for more coordinated easing.
• Brazil’s soybean planting reached 91% complete as of last Thursday, according to AgRural, slightly behind last year’s 94% pace for the date. Planting of the first-season corn crop stood at 93%, just behind last year’s 94% pace.
• Crude oil futures are little changed after the West imposed new sanctions on Russian crude oil. The sanctions put the conflict with Moscow into an unpredictable new phase that could inject further volatility into global oil markets.
• March corn fell as low as $6.41 1/4, the contract’s lowest intraday price since $6.38 1/2 on Aug. 23. Technicals turned near-term bearish after prices on Friday broke under the past month’s trading range. Initial support is seen around $6.38.

Soybeans are 4 to 5 cents higher, January soymeal is more than $7 higher and January soyoil is down nearly 150 points.

• Soybeans climbed on further indications of strong export demand and sharp gains in soymeal futures, which surged to 2 1/2-month highs.
• USDA reported a daily sale of 130,000 MT of soybeans for delivery to China during the 2022-23 marketing year. The sale follows recent USDA-announced soybean sales to China on Nov. 23 and 30 totaling 246,000 MT.
• USDA reported soybeans inspected for export during the week ended Dec. 1 at 1.722 MMT (63.3 million bu.), down from 2.227 MMT last week and within trade expectations ranging from 1.1 to 2.4 MMT.
• Short soil moisture in Argentina, along with little rain through the next several days and hot to excessively hot temperatures through Friday “will cause significant stress to crops in much of the country,” World Weather Inc. said today. After some expected rains over the coming weekend, drier weather will return Dec. 13-19 “and stress to crops should steadily increase.”
• Much of Brazil and Paraguay will see “a good mix” of rain and sunshine through the next two weeks and enough rain should fall to favorably support crop development, World Weather said.
• Brazil’s soybean planting reached 91% complete as of last Thursday, according to AgRural, slightly behind last year’s 94% pace for the date. Planting of the first-season corn crop stood at 93%, just behind last year’s 94% pace.
• January soybeans pushed above the 200-day moving average at $14.48 3/4 and reached $14.51 and is trading around the middle of the past week’s range. January soymeal reached $432.80, the contract’s highest level since Sept. 22.

Wheat futures are lower, led by declines to 15 to 17 cents in HRW and SRW contracts.

• SRW wheat futures fell near 14-month lows as the market extended last week’s losses on bearish techinicals and weak exports.
• USDA reported wheat inspected for export during the week ended Dec. 1 at 334,653 MT (12.3 million bu.), up from 284,476 MT last week and above trade expectations ranging from 175,000 to 300,000 MT.
• Ukraine’s wheat exports fell to 1.58 MMT in November from 1.98 MMT in October, the UGA Ukrainian grain traders union said. UGA said Ukrainian exporters had declared 5 MMT of grains and oilseeds for export during November and the “grain corridor” contributed 2.3 MMT last month, down more than 1.2 MMT from October.
• China sold all 39,709 MT of state-owned wheat reserves put up for auction last week. The average sales price was 2,797 yuan ($401.35) per metric ton.
• Pakistan purchased 450,000 MT of Russian wheat and another 500,000 MT from unspecified origins.
• March SRW wheat broke under this year’s previous lows in January and fell as low as $7.42 1/4, thec contract’s lowest intraday prices since October 2021.

Live cattle and feeder cattle are mostly firmer at mid-morning.

• Live cattle futures are up modestly as prices remain supported by strength in the cash market.
• Live steers averaged $156.08 through Friday morning, up 1 cent from the previous week’s average.
• Weakness in wholesale beef, reflecting packers’ stepped up slaughter recently, is limiting buying interest in futures Choice beef cutout values fell $3.64 Friday to $249.93, down $1.90 for the week and a seven-week low.
• February live cattle rose as high as $156.30, the contract’s highest intraday price since Nov. 23.

Hog futures are mostly higher.

• Lean hog futures extended last week’s gains and near 2 1/2-month highs behind signs the cash market is near a bottom.
• The CME lean hog index is down another 37 cents to $82.87 (as of Dec. 1), the lowest since late January. December futures finished 44.5 cents below that level signaling traders don’t anticipate heavy near-term pressure on the cash market.
• Pork cutout values rose $2.42 Friday to $88.94, up $1.31 for the week.
• February lean hog futures rose as high as $91.90, the contract’s highest intraday price since Sept. 21.