CHICAGO, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) agricultural futures closed more than 1 percent lower in the week ending Nov. 23, due to declining crude oil prices and uncertain export outlook.
In a Thanksgiving-shortened trading week, the most active contract for December corn fell 5.75 cents, or 1.58 percent, to 3.59 dollars per bushel. March 2019 wheat delivery went down 8 cents, or 1.55 percent, to 5.0725 dollars per bushel. January 2019 soybeans were down 11.25 cent, or 1.26 percent, to 8.81 dollars per bushel.
The crude oil futures dropped to about 50 dollars per barrel as the U.S. administration tried to limit the fallout from the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. It seemed that the administration chose to avoid geopolitical turmoil in a bid to maintain an abundant supply of crude oil on the world marketplace.
The decline of crude oil drove ethanol margins lower. A recent report released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration indicated that as of Nov. 16, U.S. ethanol production from corn fell to the lowest level in a month.
As a result, CBOT corn futures suffered third weekly losses in a row.
CBOT wheat futures also ended the week lower, despite the bullish news that Egypt secured two cargoes of U.S. wheat, the second time this year, during a tender on Thursday. The Egyptian orders for U.S., Russian, and Romanian wheat boosted international wheat prices.
Still, analysts with the Chicago-based AgResource company believe that recent wheat tender results indicate cracks in Russia's dominance of world market, amid a rapidly declining supply of high-quality milling wheat in Russia.
CBOT soybeans fell almost 20 cents at the beginning of this week because of the conflicting reports on the tariffs that the United States and its key trade partners levied against each other, which made traders unsure of what to do, said Virginia McGathey, with McGathey Commodities.
"This holiday session, a lot of traders move to the sidelines just because of the uncertainty out of the White House," she added.
The market's hope is obviously that a trade deal could produce an increase in U.S. soybean export demand.
As for the weather, according to the U.S. National Weather Service, a large area from Western Nebraska to Western Illinois will be hit by snowfall from late Saturday through Sunday afternoon.
The storm may slow down harvest activity for the last 10 percent of U.S. corn and soybean crops still in the field.
While winter wheat planting is more than 90 percent complete in the United States, a cold pattern for the next one or two weeks will keep plant growth subdued, said experts. Enditem
