Corn Morning Update & Commentary: Korea dips its toe back in for corn
<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;\">Corn Morning Update & Commentary:<br><br id=\"isPasted\">Overnight, the corn market was mixed; by the morning pause, futures had finished 1-2 cents lower. Corn appears to be trying to maintain its current price heading prior to Friday’s USDA report? The story early today is two-fold; South Korea has dipped their toes back in for coverage, with NOFI picking up 140k metric tons of optional origin corn, and MFG 132,000 metric tons. If the U.S. did not win the business, they competed awfully hard? Second, the US Dollar is back on the rampage, effectively negating the Monday slide with a two session rebound. The strong dollar is certainly doing its best to play spoiler on the U.S. corn export renaissance, but we don’t think it has done the job just yet? The report-du-jour tomorrow will be the weekly EIA. Given the turn-of-year report timings, we expect the results will not be flattering to ethanol. True, we do expect ethanol production will pull back a little; call it down -2% wk/wk. But, blender demand is likely to plunge post-Christmas, and exports could be held in check by the holidays as well. This should result in a large inventory build of around +3% to +4%. Ethanol futures were easier today, likely in anticipation of the release; we think an average Midwest ethanol plant is breaking even or losing up to 5 c/gal, net of all costs.<br> <br>Corn futures spent most of yesterday and night trading easier, but the ship was righted in the final hours of trade. Corn would settle out Tuesday with fractional gains. When factoring in Monday’s surprise CFTC report, we think Managed Money funds are net long roughly 230,000 delta-adjusted corn. Cash trade held about steady. End-user markets were mixed Tuesday; cattle continued their bull run, while both milk and hogs were a little easier up-front. The big macro started the day a small tailwind to grains but turned less friendly later (dollar up a little, equities down). Weekly reporting found the EU bloc’s YTD corn imports at 10.11 mmt, up from 9.17 the prior week and 9.62 the prior year. News wires are beginning to release estimates ahead of Friday’s crop report. Markets will close early Thursday in honor of ex-President Jimmy Carter.<br> <br> <br>QT News - Top News<br> <br>-- At a snap tender announced Wednesday, Nonghyup Feed of South Korea bought 140,000 mt of feed Corn, they had been seeking 138,000 mt. They reportedly paid $238.84/mt cf for on 70,000 mt cargo, and $238.89/mt cf for the remainder. Both cargoes are for delivery in early/mid April<br> <br>-- Major Feedmill Group from South Korea bought around 132,000 mt of feed grade Corn in a privately negotiated deal Wednesday. They bought two 66,000 mt cargoes, paying a reported $238.33/mt cf for both.<br> <br>-- Trade sources Wednesday indicated no purchase was made by Jordan's state grain buyer in their 120,000 mt feed Barley tender today. There were only two companies that participated in the tender today. Another tender is expected to be announced soon.<br> <br>-- On Wednesday, Tunisia's state grain buyer set Thursday, January 9th as the offer deadline in a tender seeking 75,000 mt of feed grade Barley.<br> <br> <br> <br>Pending Tenders<br> <br>-- Pending Tender: Trade sources Monday (1/6) indicated Algeria's state grain buyer is seeking up to 240,000 mt of Argentine or Brazil origin feed Corn in a tender to close on Tuesday, Jan 7th. The grain is expected for shipment in the last half of January.<br> <br> <br> <br>-- Euronext Paris March corn futures on Wednesday are trading +1.00 euro higher at 211.75 euros/mt<br> <br>-- Dalian May corn futures on Wednesday traded +4 yuan higher ending at 2,228 yuan/mt</span></div><br><span style=\"font-size: 12pt; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;\">KJ</span></div>