Soft Commodities Price Watch: USDA Data Lifts Wheat but Weighs on Corn
iNVEZZ.com Friday, July 12th: Corn futures today fell in Chicago on signs that global supplies will be ample amidst a rebound in U.S. production and weakening demand for the grain.
Stockpiles in the U.S., the world’s biggest corn producer, may be 1.959 billion bushels by the end of the 2013-14 marketing year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said yesterday in a long-awaited report, adding that the country may harvest a record 13.95 billion bushels of corn. The USDA’s latest stockpile estimate topped last month’s prediction of 1.949 billion bushels, as the Department of Agriculture cut its outlook for demand from livestock farmers and importers.
The corn price for December delivery on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) fell 0.43 percent to $5.2475 a bushel today, but remained on track for a seven-percent advance this week on concerns warm weather in the U.S. would damage crops.
Elsewhere on the CBOT, the soybean price for delivery in November dropped 0.29 percent to $12.87 a bushel but remains poised for the first weekly increase since May. U.S. inventories may be 295 million bushels by the end of the year on August 31, 2014, more than previously estimated and bigger than analysts had expected, the USDA said yesterday.
Among other grains, wheat for September delivery rose 0.4 percent to $6.8575 a bushel in Chicago. Futures are headed for a 3.8 percent increase this week, the biggest for a most-active contract since the five days to May 3. The USDA yesterday cut its forecast for global wheat inventories to 172.38 million tonnes, 4.9 percent down from last month’s estimate, amid rising demand in China. According to a separate USDA report, U.S. wheat exports more than doubled to 1.47 million tonnes in the week to July 4, as compared with the previous week, as China bought 1.02 million tonnes.
**Coffee Price Up on Indonesia Rains**
Robusta coffee climbed for the fifth day in London today, heading for the biggest weekly advance in 10 months, as excessive rainfall may delay harvesting in Indonesia, the third-largest coffee producer after Brazil and Vietnam.
Rainfall in the Indonesian island of Java has been “persistently above average over the last several weeks,” MDA Weather Services said in a report e-mailed to Bloomberg yesterday. The newswire today quoted Andrea Thompson, Ireland-based head of research and analysis at INTL FCStone Inc.’s
CoffeeNetwork, as saying: “Six weeks ago rain was disrupting the new harvest in other areas as well. Most of Vietnam and Indonesia are holding back supplies seeing how much higher prices can go.”
!m[Indonesian Rains Boost Coffee Price ](/uploads/story/3945/thumbs/pic1_inline.jpg)
Robusta coffee for September delivery on NYSE Liffe in London today climbed 0.6 percent to $1,894 a metric tonne. Prices are up 4.7 percent this week, heading for the biggest weekly increase since
September 28. Arabica coffee for September delivery on ICE Futures U.S. in New York was also up today, climbing 0.6 percent to $1.2415 a pound. Arabica prices have dropped 14 percent this year while Robusta has fallen 1.5 percent.
Cocoa gained 0.3 percent in London and added 0.1 percent to $2,242 a tonne in New York. NYSE Liffe white sugar fell 0.1 percent to $461.60 a tonne, while the ICE raw sugar price gained 0.2 percent to
$0.1613 a pound in New York.
Among other soft commodities, cotton edged up in New York today, adding 0.2 percent to 84.87 cents a pound for December delivery, after tumbling in the previous session on an update to inventory estimates by the USDA.
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