"Strong US demand continuing into the holidays and into the first quarter of 2013," brokerage INTL FCStone said in a research note to clients. "It is no surprise that the front month is outrunning all the deferreds." Wheat futures dropped as a wave of technical selling hit the market. The benchmark March contract closed below its 200-day moving average for the first time since June.
Corn prices have fallen for seven of the last eight trading days as supply concerns have eased amid the slowdown in demand. CBOT March corn settled down 6-3/4 cents at $7.24 a bushel. "You continue to see slow exports and ethanol profitability remains dismal," said Al Kluis, president of Kluis Commodities.
CBOT January soyabeans were 1/4 cent higher at $14.96-1/4 a bushel while CBOT March soyabeans closed down 3-1/4 cents at $14.88-1/4. The front-month contract hit a 5-1/2 week high early in the session but scaled back its gains as deferred months turned lower.
CBOT March wheat ended off 6 cents at $8.08 a bushel. The declines in soyabeans were limited by forecasts for low US stockpiles and worries about South American supplies. Soyabeans had gained 1.3 percent on Friday after data from the National Oilseed Processors Association showed US soyabean processors crushed 157.308 million bushels in November, the largest for the month since November 2009, and the biggest overall since January 2010.
Processors are crushing at a high rate to meet the strongest demand for US soyabean meal since the record year of export sales in the 2009/10 marketing season, industry sources said. Export demand for soyabeans has also been strong, especially from top global soya buyer China, which has forced domestic processors to bid up for soyabean supplies.
Widespread rainfall moved across Argentina over the weekend causing another slowdown in crop seedings and the rain is expected to continue through Wednesday, said John Dee, meteorologist for Global Weather Monitoring. "This rain certainly isn't welcome but they did have 10 to 14 days of drier weather leading up to it so they were able to get some work done," Dee said.