CBOT futures closed higher as corn and wheat prices gained throughout the trading day, while soybean futures popped higher in the final 15 minutes of trade. Fundamental news today was generally friendly following yesterday’s WASDE report. The government reported a 3+ percent week/week increase in ethanol production that is nearly 15 percent higher than year-ago production. While this is good for corn use, ethanol futures dropped 4 percent.

The next report to watch is Thursday’s weekly export sales.

The charts look favorable for corn and soybean futures, but negative for wheat. It’s likely that the spec funds are trimming short corn positions.

Cattle futures closed little changed on fairly steady cash market expectations. In boxed beef, Choice traded up 0.49 at 202.61 and Select down 0.91 at 187.10/cwt.

Lean Hog futures closed poorly as pork values were down sharply at midday. However, the end-of-day report was not as bad.  FOB Plant pork cutout ended down 1.25 at $90.40/cwt on losses in ham values.

Financial markets were impacted by the budget deal and anticipation of tapering by the Federal Reserve. Corn Mar +3 439; Jly +3 454; Dec +2 467 Bean Jan +6 1344; Jly +5 1297; Nov unch 1167 Meal Jan +1 439; Jly +1 408 Oil +29 4040 Wheat Mar +2 641; Jly +4 646 KC +1 685;  MGE unch 668 Oats +9 345 Rice -8 1547

LC Dec +22 13190; Apr -2 13382; Jun +7 12887 FC Jan +12 16567; Apr -5 16632; Aug +22 16800 LH Dec +10 8092; Feb -95 8777; Jun -57 9960 Milk Dec -17 1892; Jan -22 1839

US$ steady

Dow -130 15844 SP -20 1782 NAS -57 4004 Tran -115 7057 VIX +1.51 15.42 +10.9%

WTI -110 9741 Brent +34 10972 Gas -2 266 NG +11 434 HO unch 302 Eth -8 193

Gold -10 1252 Slvr -3 2023

2-yr +.01 0.31% 5-yr +.04 1.49% 10yr +.04 2.85% 30yr +.04 2.88%

U.S. Soy Exports Hit Record for Value in 2013       Shipments of whole soybeans, meal, oil hold steady to meet customer needs Source: United Soybean Board

ST. LOUIS (December 10, 2013) – The U.S. soy industry has done it again, exporting an eye-popping 1.7 billion bushels of U.S. soy to customers around the world in the 2012-13 marketing year, which ended Sept. 30. The value of these exports comes to a record of more than $28 billion, a 19 percent increase from 2011-2012.

The final figures show farmers continue to meet customer demand for a reliable supply of quality products. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, this total includes more than 1.3 billion bushels of whole U.S. soybeans, meal from 454 million bushels of U.S. soybeans and oil from 186 million bushels, which represents 56 percent of U.S. soybean production from last year.

Soy exports for the 2013-2014 marketing year are off to a good start with 87 percent of the total 2014 export forecasts already sold.

Top buyers of whole U.S. soybeans in 2013 include:

• China: 772 million bushels of U.S. soybeans
• Mexico: 98 million bushels of U.S. soybeans
• Japan: 63 million bushels of U.S. soybeans

Top buyers of U.S. soybean meal in 2013 include:

• Mexico: meal from 59 million bushels of U.S. soybeans
• Philippines: meal from 47 million bushels of U.S. soybeans
• Canada: meal from 43 million bushels of U.S. soybeans

Top buyers of U.S. soybean oil in 2013 include:

• China: oil from 37 million bushels of U.S. soybeans
• Mexico: oil from 35 million bushels of U.S. soybeans
• India: oil from 21 million bushels of U.S. soybeans

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