CNS Canada — Pressure continues to build on the Chicago Board of Trade corn market but there could be a glimmer of hope as traders look for places to park money ahead of next week’s U.S. Thanksgiving Day holiday.
“I think people are looking for a place to buy the market here in a short-term move,” said Jack Scoville, a senior market analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago.
During the week ended Wednesday, the December corn contract fell five cents to $3.365 per bushel (all figures US$).
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As the harvest in southern Alberta presses on, a broker said that is one of the factors pulling feed prices lower in the region. Darcy Haley, vice-president of Ag Value Brokers in Lethbridge, added that lower cattle numbers in feedlots, plentiful amounts of grass for cattle to graze and a lacklustre export market also weighed on feed prices.
A disappointing weekly export sales report weighed on the market to cap off the week, but Scoville said there are enough traders looking to make a short-term move to provide some hope.
“There’s still plenty of crop out there.”
The soybean market also suffered losses on the week, falling from last Thursday’s lofty perch of $9.85 a bushel, down to $9.72.
“We’re obviously in a slow zone and not really doing a lot; export sales were disappointing,” said Scoville.
Futures could drop as low as $9.50-$9.60 a bushel, he said.
“We’re fading against a $9.80 resistance,” he said. “So it does look like we put in a short-term top.”
Basis levels have also been firming up, he said.
— Dave Sims writes for Commodity News Service Canada, a Winnipeg company specializing in grain and commodity market reporting.
