Afternoon Soybeans: Bean market surged higher, led by meal.
<div class=\"default-font-wrapper\" style=\"line-height: 1;font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;\"><div style=\"line-height: 1;\"><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;\">The soybean market ripped to the topside in a thin holiday trade led by meal from the product side. March beans settled 16 cents higher and recovered to within’ a few pennies of $10. The bull spread action was mixed with the nearby Jan-March spread continuing its liquidation which has seen a break from even money to -10 over the past five sessions. Beans gained on corn in the inter-market spreading where the new crop ratio widened back out to 2.29% from its recent low of 2.23% last week. <br> <br>In the product trade, Meal gapped higher on concerns over the drier near term weather outlook for Argentina, a processing fire at the Bunge facility in Cairo, IL that will disrupt physical supply, and good ole’ fund short covering where the managed fund money crowd was holding a record short position of nearly 89k contracts through the trade week ending 12/17. The South American weather forecast features net drying for Argentina and immediate surrounding areas into the New Year with only limited rains to follow in early January. No serious crop issues are expected at this point but all it takes is a hint of weather in Argentina for meal futures to sit up and scald the shorts. Meanwhile, rainfall in Brazil is forecasted to remain plentiful for most growing areas. Fire fighters were working to extinguish a fire at the Bunge soy processing plant in Cairo, IL this morning. It was reported that the fire was under control and no injuries were reported. It is not clear how long the facility will be out of operation. March meal settled more than $13 higher while soybean oil lost more than .40 pts as the oil share spread plummeted to a near three-month low. Board crush margins jumped by 9 cents to $1.34/bushel.<br> <br> Weekly export sales are out tomorrow morning. The range of trade estimates on combined old/new crop corn sales is 1.0-1.6 mmt, wheat 250-600 tmt, beans 1.3-1.8 mmt, meal 200-450 tmt, and oil 5-15 tmt. There were daily sales announced for this reporting period totaling 455 tmt of corn, 546 tmt of beans, and 120 tmt of meal. <br> <br>January options expire tomorrow. First notice on Jan futures is the 31st so longs need to be out by Monday's close to avoid delivery risk. There are 183 deliverable bean receipts registered with the exchange (Cargill cancelled 22 over the holiday), along with 879 oil, and 1,665 meal. <br> <br>Elsewhere in the news, Chinese ag data released Thursday placed the country's end of November 2024 sow herd at 40.80 mln head, that's off -1.9% from the year ago month. Over the first 11 months of 2024 hog slaughter has fall -2.6% on year over year terms to 296.1 mln head.<br> <br>Brazil Soy Exports Seen Reaching 1.62 mmt In December, unchanged from prior forecast according to Anec. Meal exports 2.1 mmt vs. 2.18 mmt prior. Corn exports 4.1 mmt, unchanged from prior.<br> <br>Intertek estimated Malaysian palm oil product exports over Dec 1-25 period at 1.152 mln mt, that's off -4.0% from their Nov 1-25 estimate at 1.200 mln mt.<br> <br>AmSpec Agri on Thursday pegged Malaysian palm oil product exports over the Dec 1-25 period at 1.144 mln mt, that compares with their Nov 1-25 estimate at 1.157 mln mt<br><br>Soybean Basis: <br>Location Spot <br>US Gulf steady +86 <br>Cedar Rapids, IA steady -15f<br>Mankato, MN steady -20f <br>Decatur, IL steady +5f <br>Decatur, IN steady +10h <br>Columbus, OH steady -20f </span></div></div>