Big crops; lower prices

Market Line September 4, 2009 Big crops of wheat, corn and soybeans weighed on grain futures Thursday with wheat closing lower. Louise Gartner for the Linn Group at the Chicago Board of Trade says there were new lows during the session and wheat closed on new lows.

Gartner: “Obviously very negative. I do think we should be carving out our seasonal low here fairly quickly as we get into the last half of spring wheat harvest. That should be about enough pressure for now.”

Gartner says early reports on the hard red spring wheat harvest in the northern plains point to lower protein, about 13 percent or lower rather than the usual 14 percent.

USDA’ weekly export sales report for wheat was called respectable at nearly 406-thousand metric tons, but sales still lag the pace needed to meet USDA’s marketing year projection.

On Thursday Chicago December wheat was down seven cents at 4-78 ¾.

December corn down 3 ½ at 3-15 ¾. Portland soft white wheat bids trended lower but were mostly 4-80. Club wheat 7-30. HRW 11.5 % protein three to eight cents lower at 5-24. DNS 14% protein down a nickel at 5-91. No Portland barley bids.

Cattle futures were just slightly lower Thursday on profit taking and contract spreading. Traders were still awaiting the bulk of the cash fed cattle trade to occur. USDA announced it would be buying up to 30 million dollars in pork products for food programs to help hog producers. October live cattle down a nickel at 86-72. October feeders down 12 cents at 98-37. October Class III milk up a nickel at 12-40 despite lower cheese prices.

I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Market Line on the Northwest Ag Information Network.

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