Global Ag News Headlines June 17

Overnight trade has SRW down roughly 3 cents, HRW down 4; HRS Wheat up 2, Corn is down 2 cents; Soybeans down 1, Soymeal unchanged, and Soyoil down 5 points.

Chinese Ag futures (Sep) settled up 14 yuan, up 3 yuan in Corn, down 10 in Soymeal, up 22 in Soyoil, and up 72 in Palm Oil.

Malaysian palm oil prices were up 4 ringgit at 2,360 (basis September) on ideas of recovering demand.

U.S. Weather Forecast

Meaningful shower and thunderstorm activity is expected to impact the central and southern Plains Wednesday and especially Thursday through Saturday

An active weather pattern is seen for the Corn Belt the next couple of weeks; the 6-10 day forecast has rounds of showers and thunderstorms from Monday through Wednesday that will bring moderate rainfall to near 100 percent of the Midwest

The player sheet had funds net sellers of 7,000 contracts of SRW Wheat; net sold 1,000 Corn; net sold 2,000 Soybeans; net sold 1,000 Soymeal, and; net bought 2,000 Soyoil.

We estimate Managed Money net short 34,000 contracts of SRW Wheat; net short 297,000 Corn; net long 25,000 Soybeans; net short 53,000 lots of Soymeal, and; net short 3,000 Soyoil.

Preliminary Open Interest saw SRW Wheat futures up roughly 13,800 contracts; HRW Wheat up 2,200; Corn up 22,600; Soybeans down 6,300 contracts; Soymeal down 150 lots, and; Soyoil down 9,500.

There were no changes in registrations—Registrations total 11 contracts for SRW Wheat; ZERO Oats; Corn ZERO; Soybeans ZERO; Soyoil 3,495 lots; Soymeal 511; Rice 106; HRW Wheat 17, and; HRS 488.

TODAY—WEEKLY ETHANOL STATS— 

Tender Activity—Ethiopia seeks 400,000t optional-origin wheat—Taiwan bought 65,000t Brazilian corn—Thailand seeks 240,000t optional-origin feed wheat—Egypt seeks 3,000t optional-origin soyoil, 2,000t sunoil

Wire story reports after last year’s delayed planting drama, the 2020 U.S. corn campaign might seem comparatively boring so far, especially given the low-price environment; while futures markets have yet to reflect any weather-related scares this summer, this year’s weather has been unlike many recent years; the implications of 2020’s unique setup are still to be determined, but the recent heat could challenge the market’s general expectation for record U.S. corn yields.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has not yet taken action on petitions by refiners seeking retroactive biofuel blending waivers, Senator Chuck Grassley from Iowa said; the Iowa senator called on the EPA to reject such petitions; Grassley said the petitions were an attempt to skirt a 10th Circuit Court of Appeals decision earlier this year that said waivers from the nation’s biofuel blending laws granted to small refineries after 2010 had to take the form of an “extension.”; the decision, if applied broadly, would likely put an end to the Trump Administration’s practice of granting large numbers of exemptions to blending mandates.

A long list of 192 agribusinesses and groups up and down the supply chain in agriculture signed onto a letter to President Donald Trump calling for him to keep working on the phase-one agreement with China and ensure the country maintains its commitments to buy agricultural commodities; agricultural groups on Tuesday wrote President Donald Trump calling on him to stick with the phase-one trade deal with China and encouraging the president to keep pressing China to meet its commitments under the deal.

Manitoba crop report – Reuters News

Strong winds have delayed herbicide application on all crops; crop staging is advancing and may prove challenging to spray within labelled application windows; reseeding of some canola and soybean crops continues where crop damages excessive.

China’s meat importers fear clearing delays and a hit to demand after one of the country’s major ports started requiring COVID-19 tests for all meat and seafood containers to prevent contamination from the coronavirus that causes the disease; Tianjin port on the northern coast began testing batches from every single arriving container on Monday

Could China’s strategic pork reserve be a model for the US?

During the height of the coronavirus pandemic, we became accustomed to face-masked shoppers, social distancing and one-way aisles at the grocery store. But most shocking was the scene at the supermarket meat case; some meat processing plants closed or reduced capacity as workers contracted the virus; disruptions to the supply chain resulted in shortages and price increases for beef and pork products; purchase limits on meat and other items were reminiscent of wartime food rationing; ideas and solutions regarding the vulnerabilities of meat production have ranged from eliminating meat consumption to decentralizing meat production away from large packing plants to increasing automation of processing facilities; another solution may be to create a strategic meat reserve

China’s pig herd grew 3.9% in May from the previous month, as more newly built pig farms started production, the agriculture ministry said; the sow herd also grew 3.9% in May

In China, there are expectations producers would resume urea exports in July once the domestic season finishes at the end of June for south and central provinces; Chinese exports have been around 40% lower so far in 2020 year on year, despite operating rates being higher than last year.

The Ukrainian Ministry for Development of Economy, Trade and Agriculture expects that grain harvest in Ukraine in 2020 will be over 68 million tons compared with the previous forecast of 65-68 tons.

Euronext wheat futures edged lower on Tuesday to a new three-month low as markets were pressured by an advancing U.S. harvest and recent welcome rain that has eased drought fears in Europe