By Kirk Maltais
-- Corn for July delivery fell 4.5% to $6.45 1/4 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade Friday, staying in correction mode as funds cut their exposure in long positions.
-- Soybeans for July delivery rose 0.4% to $15.96 a bushel.
-- Wheat for July delivery rose 0.9% to $7.07 1/2 a bushel.
HIGHLIGHTS
Exit ... Stage Left: Funds that have maintained large long positions in CBOT corn futures continued to reduce exposure Friday.
"CBOT futures are sharply mixed at midday with old-crop corn pushing lower on continued liquidation," said AgResource. The firm estimates that fund managers sold 22,000-26,000 contracts of corn and 1,000-2,000 contracts of wheat Friday, while buying 4,200 contracts of soybeans. As of last week's CFTC commitments of traders report, managed money funds held a net long position of over 355,000 contracts.
Rollin' on the River: A closure of a bridge on the Mississippi River to barge and vehicle traffic was a factor putting pressure on grains futures Thursday, but the repair of the bridge throughout the day supported futures, assuaging fears that an extended backup in barge traffic would stifle grain sales. The bridge has since reopened for barge traffic, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
INSIGHTS
Far Ahead Bets: The USDA confirmed another flash sale of U.S. corn to China Friday, with 1.36 million metric tons sold. The USDA has now confirmed flash sales of U.S. grains every day for a week now, with the bulk of the sales being corn to China.
However, most of these sales are for 2021-22 crop, with said crop being planted now and yet to be grown.
Fat Chance: Underlying factors such as China's demand for soybeans and Argentina's issues with its soybean crop have been supportive for soyoil futures this year, but so is demand for vegetable oil as a whole from the renewable fuels industry.
While producers of renewable diesel and other green fuels would prefer to use animal fats as feedstock for their biofuels, there simply isn't enough available to do so, said Juan Sacoto of IHS Markit. Forty percent of all beef tallow and 80% of all used yellow cooking grease is already sold to the renewable fuels industry, the firm says, totaling roughly 2 billion pounds each.
Meanwhile, approximately 20 billion pounds of feedstock will be needed for the industry in 2021, said Mr. Sacoto.
AHEAD:
-- The USDA is scheduled to release its weekly export inspections report at 11 a.m. EDT Monday.
-- The USDA is due to release its weekly crop progress report at 4 p.m. EDT Monday.
-- The EIA is scheduled to release its weekly ethanol production and stocks report at 10:30 a.m. EDT Wednesday.
Write to Kirk Maltais at kirk.maltais@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
05-14-21 1557ET
