Soybean Sales Still Strong
China remains biggest buyer of beans, with no cancellations showing up yet in official USDA data.
Bryce Knorr
Published: Apr 21, 2011
"The lady doth protest too much, methinks?"
Soybean traders may be in the mood to cite the Bard today. The famous quote from Hamlet comes to mind, after a surprising weekly sales report. The data showed China is not only not cancelling previous purchases, but continues to purchase both old and new crop cargoes out of the U.S.
Soybean prices sold off earlier this month after Chinese officials said buyers there had cancelled or deferred 50 million bushels or more of previous deals due to poor processing margins. While USDA previously acknowledged a few of those washouts, nothing new surfaced in today's numbers.
Instead, total sales for the week reached 20.4 million bushels, almost doubling trade guesses. China accounted for half the old crop total and 80% of the new crop bookings, taking 12.6 million on the week.
Export shipments also down from previous weeks, but still beat the rate forecast by USDA for the rest of the marketing year.
A lot of decreases were noted in the corn tally today, but the total of old and new crop net bookings was still respectable at 33.8 million bushels, though that was below trade guesses. Shipments were decent at 36.8 million, but the year-to-date total for 2010 remains behind the average needed to reach USDA's forecast. Japan took most of the old crop corn, while Mexico was the leading new crop buyer.
Wheat sales were disappointing at 11.1 million bushels, half the amount predicted by traders. Shipments were good at 31.7 million, but need to be even better in the final weeks of the marketing year to reach USDA's forecast. Buyers from the Middle East remain active, though none are taking large amounts as harvest nears.
For the complete export report, click here.
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Weekly Export Sales (million bushels)
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AS OF WEEK ENDING
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4/14/11
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Actual
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Last Week
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Trade Est.
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USDA F'cast
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Export Ship-ments
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USDA F'cast
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% of USDA Commit.
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Ave.
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% of USDA Ship-ments
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Ave.
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Wheat
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11.1
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20.1
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22.1
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1.3
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31.7
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42.0
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95%
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90%
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71%
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75%
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Corn
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33.8
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43.4
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37.4
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19.0
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36.8
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45.7
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82%
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79%
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55%
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62%
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Soybeans
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20.4
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2.9
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11.0
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4.0
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16.3
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13.8
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95%
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90%
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83%
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81%
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Source: USDA, Reuters
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Tagged: usda, wheat, soybean, soybeans, Harvest
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