Tuesday, September 18, 2012

RTRS- Ship damages Santos port grain elevator in Brazil

SAO PAULO, Sept 17 (Reuters) - A ship loading soybeans for China at Brazil's Santos port hit and damaged a grain elevator component that loads soy and corn into holds, shutting down the public grains terminal over the weekend, logistics agents SC Commodities said on Monday.

The accident was being investigated and it yet unclear what caused it.

Santos has four other dry bulk terminals that can handle the movement of grains until berth No. 38 is fixed. Brazil exported most of its soybean crop earlier this year, however, and the new crop will not be ready to harvest until January.

The so-called shiploader, which carries dry bulk commodities such as soy from terminal warehouses on a system of conveyor belts and drops them into the holds of ships, is part of berth No. 38 on the public grains terminal of the port.

Brazil is expected to export a record amount of corn this year, but the port should have sufficient loading capacity to handle the shipments. Brazil exported 2.7 million tonnes of corn in August, not all of it from Santos.

A representative of the port of Santos was not immediately available for comment.

Earlier in 2012, the TGG grains terminal at Santos had one of its four shiploaders ripped from the pier by a ship, interrupting the loading of soy and corn for weeks.

RTRS-Dalian soymeal racks up biggest 1-day drop since 2009

BEIJING, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Dalian soymeal futures 0#DSM: fell around 4 percent on Monday, in their biggest single-day drop since 2009, following weakening prices on the Chicago Board of Trade 0#S:, pressured by the rapidly advancing U.S. harvest.

The switch of speculative funds from agriculture futures to metals was also a factor behind the fall, analysts said.

The most-traded January 2013 contract DSMcv1 fell 4.19 percent to close at 4,083 yuan ($650) per tonne, the biggest one-day drop since August 17, 2009. Soymeal DSMcv1 was traded at an all-time record of 4,369 yuan per tonne last week.

The market expects that falling Chicago prices will spur China, the world's top soy buyer, to increase imports of soy, the raw material from which feed ingredient soymeal is made.

"Chinese crushers have not bought enough and they will step up purchases as soon as Chicago prices fall low enough," said one industry analyst, who declined to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

But the price fall was expected to be short-lived and domestic meal prices will be supported by the tight supply of soybeans in largest exporter the United States, where the worst drought in more than 50 years will reduce supplies to China.

"The U.S. soy harvest will be lower anyway, and supply will be tight before the South American harvest reaches the market early next year," said Wang Ping, an analyst with Dong Wu Futures.

Market expectations are for China's own harvest to be reduced by about a fifth this year to about 11 million tonnes, said Liang Yong, an analyst with Galaxy Futures based in Heilongjiang, the country's top soy area. The lower domestic output is because of a cut in soy acreage farmers made early in the year.

Beijing also plans to sell 400,000 tonnes of domestic soy from state reserves on Sept 27 to help boost supplies. The government has sold 3.04 million tonnes since 2010. 

($1=6.3145 yuan)

RTRS- Forward sales of Brazil soy advance, planting window opens

SAO PAULO, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Forward sales of soybeans in Brazil, the world's second largest producer, advanced one percentage point last week, local analyst Celeres said on Monday, as farmers awaited sufficient rainfall to plant what could be a record crop.

The restricted 90-day window in which producers cannot legally sow soy to prevent the spread of Asian rust fungus, ended on Sept. 15 in the biggest soy state, Mato Grosso.

Forward sales rose to 46 percent of expected output from 45 percent the previous week, Celeres said in a weekly report. Farmers have sought to lock in high prices since the U.S. drought spurred global supply fears. Much less of the new crop - 21 percent - had been sold a year earlier.

Producers have sold 98 percent of the 65-million-tonne 2011/2012 crop that ended harvest in May, unchanged from a week earlier and above the 89 percent sold by this time last year, Minas Gerais-based Celeres said.

Stocks were depleted after drought in Brazil's soy belt this year, but Celeres expects a record 78.1 million tonnes for the 2012/2013 crop from Brazil, due partly to forecasts of steadier and earlier rainfall.

Local media reported isolated rainfall in Mato Grosso on Monday, which could encourage farmers after a three-month dry stretch during the southern hemisphere's winter.

November soybean futures SX2 fell to $16.69 per bushel in Chicago on Monday, helped by rain forecasts in South America and anecdotal reports that the U.S. harvest would not be as bad as some had feared.
Local meteorologist Somar has cautioned that steady showers needed to allow plants to germinate may come later than initially thought, however.

That would not necessarily affect overall output but would result in a later harvest in a year in which Brazilian production is needed to make up for drought losses in the top-producing United States.

RTRS- India's Aug refined palm oil imports drop 29.4 pct

NEW DELHI, Sept 14 (Reuters) - India's refined palm oil imports dropped about a third in August, marking a third successive monthly fall, as the world's top vegetable oil buyer increased its import duty to cut cheap supplies from top producer Indonesia, a trade body said.

Imports of refined palm oil fell to 79,486 tonnes from 112,611 tonnes in July, the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA) said in a statement on Friday, slightly lower than the average of a Reuters poll.
Purchases of refined palm oil have been falling since June due to expectations that India would raise its import duty to protect local processors who repeatedly petitioned the government for an increase in the levy.

Conceding to processors' demand, the government raised the import duty from Aug. 1.
"The duty hike will check excessive refined palmolein imports in coming months," said B.V. Mehta, executive director of the SEA.

Refined palm oil imports surged about 72 percent to 1.4 million tonnes in the first ten months of the season beginning November after Indonesia changed its export tax structure in October 2011 to support its own refining industry.
India imports mainly palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia. It also imports a small quantity of soyoil from Brazil and Argentina.

Total palm oil imports rose about 15 percent to 702,611 tonnes but soyoil purchases fell 29.3 percent to 110,758 tonnes. Sunflower oil imports dropped by about 14 percent to 68,900 tonnes in August.

Total vegetable oil imports, including small amounts of non-edible oils, rose 3.1 percent to 897,018 tonnes from July.

RTRS- Malaysia sees little El Nino risk so far to palm oil

PARIS, Sept 14 (Reuters) - There has been no sign of extreme weather in Malaysia linked to the El Nino phenomenon that could affect palm oil output in the world's second-largest producer of the edible oil, government and industry officials from the country said on Friday.

Forecasters have said that the El Nino weather pattern, which involves a warming of surface temperatures in parts of the Pacific Ocean that can trigger drought in southeast Asia and Australia, has re-emerged and could last several months.
"It's already September and I haven't seen too much of it myself," Malaysian Commodities Minister Bernard Dompok told a news conference in Paris, referring to El Nino. "Sometimes these predictions are not as disastrous as they sound."

Palm oil producing regions have seen rainfall in recent weeks, Lee Yeow Chor, chairman of the Malaysian Palm Oil Council, an industry lobby, told the news conference.

The last severe El Nino in 1998 killed more than 2,000 people and caused billions of dollars in damage to crops, infrastructure and mines in Australia and other parts of Asia.

Malaysian officials reiterated a forecast for palm oil production of 18.4 million tonnes this year, down from 18.9 million tonnes in 2011.

Labour shortages on plantations had contributed to the expected drop in output, they said.

The production fall is set to widen the gap with top producer Indonesia, which is also challenging Malaysian palm oil exports through tax changes.

The Malaysian government was still considering how to help its industry compete against Indonesian exports, Dompok said, declining to say what measures would be proposed and when.

Protecting the interests of small growers would be a key concern in the government's response, he added.

Malaysia has already increased its quota of tax-free palm oil exports for this year to 5 million tonnes from 3 million in a move partly seen as a reaction to Indonesia's policy.

Trader's Highlight


DJI- NEW YORKSept 17 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Monday in light trading after a rally that drove the S&P 500 last week to its highest level in nearly five years and as falling oil prices hit energy shares.

The decline broke a four-day streak of gains for the S&P 500. On Friday, both the Dow and the S&P 500 ended at highs not seen since December 2007. The rally came a day after the Federal Reserve unveiled new stimulus measures that could keep equities buoyed for months. The Fed's action followed a decision by the European Central Bank to support debt-ridden euro-zone nations by purchasing their debt.

Equities' move is mainly consolidation following last week's big move higher, said Bruce Zaro, chief technical strategist at Delta Global Asset Management in Boston.

"I think the signal that the Fed gave last week is likely to have a lasting effect, and carry through to the end of the year," he said.

Financials, which were among the biggest gainers late last week, were among the sectors leading Monday's decline. The S&P financial index fell 1.1 percent. Bank of America Corp shares lost 2.6 percent to $9.30.

An S&P index of energy shares fell 0.8 percent, slipping in sync with oil prices, which tumbled sharply in afternoon trading. Exxon Mobil shed 0.4 percent to percent to $91.91.

The market's losses were limited by Apple Inc, which hit another all-time session high of $699.80 with demand for its new iPhone 5 exceeding initial supply. The company booked 2 million orders in one day and pushed the delivery date for some pre-orders to next month. The stock rose above $700 after the bell; it closed at $699.78, up 1.2 percent.

Volume was lower than average, with about 5.64 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and the Amex, compared with the year-to-date average daily closing volume of 6.54 billion. Many participants were out on Monday for the observance of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year.

The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 40.27 points, or 0.30 percent, to end at 13,553.10. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index shed 4.58 points, or 0.31 percent, to 1,461.19. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 5.28 points, or 0.17 percent, to close at 3,178.67.

After the bell, shares of Advanced Micro Devices slid 12.7 percent to $3.50 after the company said its chief financial officer was leaving to pursue other opportunities. The stock closed the regular session at $4.01, up 2.8 percent.

The day's economic data offered more evidence of weakness in the economy. Factory activity in New York state contracted for a second month in a row in September, with the Empire State "business conditions" index falling to its lowest level in nearly 3-1/2 years, according to a report on Monday from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. A national manufacturing survey by an industry group earlier this month showed the sector contracted for a third month in August.

Gold and other commodities also fell for the day, and the S&P 500 materials index slid 1.5 percent, leading the S&P 500's decline. JP Morgan cut its ratings on a number of metals companies, including AK Steel, which dropped 5.8 percent to $5.53.

Investors also focused on turmoil overseas. Protesters in Afghanistan and Indonesia burnt U.S. flags and chanted "Death to America" on Monday in renewed demonstrations over a film mocking the Prophet Mohammad.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Iran would reach the brink of being able to build a nuclear bomb in just six or seven months.

Major Japanese companies, including Nissan and Honda, announced factory shutdowns in China on Monday and Japanese expatriates were urged to stay indoors ahead of what could be more angry protests over a territorial dispute between Asia's two biggest economies.

The day's deal news included Lowe's Cos Inc saying it had withdrawn its C$1.8 billion ($1.86 billion) proposal to buy Rona Inc in the face of stiff opposition to the unsolicited bid for the Canadian home improvement retailer. Lowe's shares slipped 0.6 percent to $29.23.

General Electric Co shares shed 0.3 percent to $22.05 after sources familiar with the matter said the company has hired Morgan Stanley to review its 33 percent stake in Thailand's Bank of Ayudhya Pcl, which could potentially lead to a sale by the U.S. conglomerate of its near $2.2 billion holding.

Decliners outpaced advancers on the NYSE by nearly 2 to 1 and on the Nasdaq by about 5 to 3.


NYMEX- NEW YORKSept 17 (Reuters) - U.S. crude futures settled lower on Monday after recovering from losses suffered during a high-volume, rapid selloff that pushed crude briefly below its 200-day moving average intraday and followed last week's price surge on the Federal Reserve's launch of a stimulus program to bolster the economy.
  
CBOT SOYBEAN Soybean futures on the Chicago Board of Trade plunged the 70-cent single-day limit on Monday, hit by U.S. harvest pressure and talk of better-than-expected early yields, along with technical selling including fund-driven long liquidation,traders said.

* Additional pressure from ideas that rains this month in northern Brazil could allow farmers an early start planting soybeans for their 2013 harvest.
  • Spot soybean futures fell 4 percent, their biggest daily decline in 18 months, to a near one-month low.
  • Local media reported isolated rainfall Monday in Mato Grosso, Brazil's biggest soy state, which could encourage farmers after a three-month dry stretch during the southern hemisphere's winter. Farmers in Mato Grosso were allowed to start planting Sept. 15.
  • Analysts expected USDA's weekly crop progress report due later on Monday to show the U.S. soybean harvest as 9 percent complete, up from 4 percent a week earlier.
  • China's government plans to sell 400,000 tonnes of domestic soy from state reserves on Sept 27 to help boost supplies.
  • USDA confirmed sales of 210,000 tonnes of U.S. soybeans to unknown destinations for delivery in 2012/13.
  • USDA reported export inspections of U.S. soybeans in the latest week at 9.959 million bushels, below a range of trade estimates for 14 million to 18 million.
  • A ship loading soybeans for China at Brazil's Santos port hit and damaged a grain elevator component that loads soy and corn into holds, shutting down the public grains terminal over the weekend, said logistics agent SC Commodities.
  • Daily trading limits in CBOT soybeans for Tuesday's trade will widen to $1.05 per bushel while CBOT soymeal limits will widen to $30 a ton, after Monday's limit drop - CME Group.
  
FCPO- KUALA LUMPURSept 14 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures rose on Friday after the U.S. Federal Reserve kicked off a third round of quantitative easing to stimulate its economy and as investors took up positions ahead of a long weekend.

The Fed said it will buy $40 billion of mortgage-backed debt each month in the world's largest economy, lifting global prices of oil, grains gold prices on expectations that global economy and commodity demand will continue to grow.

"The market is up on the back of yesterday's QE3 announcement. The market has also been oversold for quite some time and is now recovering a bit," said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage.

"There is a lot of covering ahead of a 3-day holiday," the trader added. Local markets will be closed on Monday following the Malaysia Day public holiday, which falls on Sunday.

The benchmark November contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange ended up 0.8 percent to 2,936 ringgit ($966.1) per tonne after going as high as 2,945 ringgit.

Total traded volume stood at 33,029 lots of 25 tonnes each, up from the usual 25,000 tonnes as trades locked in postions ahead of long weekend holiday.

Technicals showed Malaysian palm oil will retest a resistance at 2,960 ringgit per tonne as a rebound from the Sept. 11 low of 2,874 ringgit has not completed, said Reuters market analyst Wang Tao. 

The widening discount between edible soyoil and palm oil has helped shift demand to the cheaper tropical oil, but investors remain cautious due to rising inventory levels in the No.2 producer.

"Everybody knows that stock is still plentiful and I won't be surprised if September stocks go higher. That's why market is a bit depressed although the spread between bean oil and palm oil is more than $300 per tonne," the trader said.

Brent crude rose for the seventh straight session on Friday, climbing towards $118 a barrel on hopes for stronger global demand for oil and expectations that the spillover effects will reach the commodity markets. 

In other vegetable oil markets, U.S. soyoil for December delivery climbed nearly 1 percent, buoyed by the U.S. Federal Reserve's announcement which investors hope will improve the demand outlook for raw materials.

The most active January 2013 soyoil contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange climbed 1.2 percent.

REGIONAL EQUITYBANGKOK, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Most Southeast Asian stocks ended slightly higher on Monday, paring earlier gains, but demand for commodities stocks such as Indonesia's Bumi Resources and Thailand's PTTEP continued as a new round of U.S. monetary stimulus bolstered cyclical stocks.

Market investors appeared cautious on the outlook for the global economy and the euro zone crisis, traders said, prompting players to cash in on large-caps which rallied in the previous session following the U.S. economic stimulus news.

Thailand's benchmark SET index edged up 0.19 percent at 1,278.54, the highest close since June 1996, led by a 4.6 percent jump in energy explorer PTT Exploration and Production Pcl.

In Jakarta, the late reversal sent the main index down 0.04 percent, with finance index off 0.08 percent. But coal miners outperformed, including Bumi Resources, which was up 2.4 percent.

Singapore's Straits Times Index ended up 0.3 percent at a one-month closing high of 3,078.72. Palm oil producer Wilmar International Ltd gained 1.5 percent but DBS Group Holdings fell 0.6 percent after Friday's 0.7 percent gain.