LONDON (Commodity Online): CBOT grains prices posted losses on the day, pressured by disappointing weekly US export sales figures and intensifying concerns surrounding Italy, said Barclays Capital in a research note.

 Front-month December Corn contract shed 10.5 cents to close at $6.46/bushel, while Wheat prices posted steeper declines, dropping by 23 cents to close at $6.20/bushel on the day.

Front-month November soybeans contract closed at a one-month low at $11.58/bushel, despite the USDA’s downward revisions of 2011 US corn and soybean yields.

Corn export sales were weak at 252 Kt, a five-month low, down by 60% from the previous week and 75% from the prior four-week average.

Asian buying was the largest chunk with Japan buying 133.3 Kt, China at 119.5 Kt (up significantly from last week's 60 Kt), Taiwan at 37.2 Kt and South Korea at 18.6 Kt.

Wheat export sales remain poor at 298.4Kt, down by 7% from the previous week and 22% below the prior four-week average, which is unsurprising keeping in mind the competitive pricing of Black Sea Wheat exports.

Contrastingly, soybean export sales rebounded from the previous week's four-month low and came in at 607 Kt, with China comprising half of US weekly soybean export sales (334.7 Kt).

 In early trade, grains prices are trading slightly higher, supported by a weaker dollar and forecasts of a slowed US Corn and soybean harvest as more rain is expected in the eastern Midwest next week.

Across the soft commodities, ICE Cocoa and Coffee eased, while Sugar posted a modest gain of 0.12%. Cocoa prices slumped to a fresh two-year low at $2500/t while coffee gave up 0.2 cents to close at 230 cents/lbs.

ICO was reported to have said on Thursday that world 2011/12 global coffee output is expected at 127.4mn 60 kg bags, down from the previous estimate of around 130mn bags. Cotton was the strongest performer across the complex closing 2.39% higher on the day at $99.5 cents/lbs.

 Cotton prices were supported by China Customs data that showed China’s cotton imports in October to have surged 163% from the same period last year to 252.3 Kt.

Post your comment  (0)

Connect:

Post to Twitter

Post to Facebook