RTRS - Argentine soy planting helped by recent sunshine

BUENOS AIRES, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Argentina's main farm areas benefited from good weather last week and over the weekend, helping growers advance soy planting that has been delayed by months of heavy rain and flooding, a meteorologist said on Monday.

But the Pampas has been hit by storms since August, raising concerns about supplies at a time of low world food stocks.

After what some climate specialists described as an early arrival of the El Nino effect this year, which tends to bring rain to Argentina and southern Brazil, farmers saw their planting equipment bog down in mushy topsoils.

"Over the weekend there was some rain in some parts of the province of Buenos Aires, but it was not very intense and really did not cause any significant disruption," he added.

According to the National Weather Service (SMN), scattered showers will bring between 10 and 40 millimeters of water in Argentina's two main grains provinces of Buenos Aires and Cordoba by Wednesday.

The Argentine government says the country can produce 55 million to 58 million tonnes of soybeans this season if the weather cooperates.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) expects Argentina to harvest 55 million tonnes of soy, 11.5 million tonnes of wheat and 28 million tonnes of corn in the current 2012/13 crop year.

Sharp food price increases have serious implications for the global economy, driving up inflation at a time when consumers in many developed countries are struggling with rising unemployment.

RTRS - Speculators slash long stakes in corn, soybeans

CHICAGO, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Large speculators cut their bullish bets on corn and soybeans as a broad selloff in grains brought the market near levels last seen before a drought sparked a rally that sent prices to record highs, regulatory data released on Friday showed.

Noncommercial traders, a category that includes hedge funds, cut their net long in soybeans by 29 percent, according to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's weekly Commitments of Traders report. It was the biggest reduction to the soybean long in percentage terms in more than 10 months. The 22 percent drop in the corn long was the biggest in percentage terms since late May.

The report showed that speculators sold 24,565 long contracts from their soybean stake while adding 9,537 shorts in the week ended Nov. 13. The moves left them with a net long position in the commodity of 95,554 contracts, their smallest since Feb. 21.

In corn, the noncommercial net long of 135,565 was the smallest since June 26. Speculators cut 23,119 long contracts and added 15,327 shorts to their corn holdings.

Soybean prices dropped 5.9 percent and corn fell 2.4 percent during the five trading days ended Nov. 13. The markets have continued to weaken during the past three trading days.

Speculators have been lightening their net longs in corn and soybeans throughout the fall as results from the harvest showed that the yield impact of the worst drought in more than 50 years was less than expected.

Poor demand on the export market for U.S. commodities due to the high prices also has led to some unwinding of the bullish positions.

In wheat, speculators trimmed their net short position amid growing concerns about crop shortfalls in key production areas around the globe such as Australia and Argentina. The weather concerns bolstered expectations of rising global demand for U.S. wheat, although no new deals had been struck.

Trader's highlight

DJI - NEW YORK, Nov 19 (Reuters) - World stock markets and commodities surged on Monday, recovering some of the previous week's sharp losses as traders focused on politicians' comments indicating readiness to compromise to avoid the U.S. "fiscal cliff."

U.S. lawmakers indicated compromises were possible in negotiations to avert $600 billion in tax increases and spending cuts due to start in January - the "fiscal cliff" that threatens to send the U.S. economy back into recession.

Legislators from both parties have indicated in recent days compromise was possible on key issues like raising tax rates for wealthy individuals, which previously seemed unlikely.

European Central Bank policymaker Joerg Asmussen said at the weekend that the ministers were likely to agree to the deal and leave resolution of a longer-term debt stabilization plan for Greece, which is at the heart of a disagreement with the IMF, until later

NYMEX - NEW YORK, Nov 19 (Reuters) - U.S. crude rose 2.7 percent on Monday on optimism that legislators will reach a deal to tackle the nation's fiscal crunch, with additional support coming from escalating tensions in the Middle East.

CBOT Soybean - Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures rallied on technical buying after last week's near-five-month low, and on spillover from higher commodity and equity markets amid signs of progress on resolving a looming U.S. fiscal crisis.

• Additional support stemmed from news that top global soy buyer China will temporarily halt regular soybean sales from state reserves as Beijing starts a stockpiling program. 
• USDA reported export inspections of U.S. soybeans in the latest week at 61.992 million bushels, above a range of trade expectations for 53 million to 59 million bushels.
• Soyoil posted the biggest percentage gains in the CBOT soy complex, supported by USDA confirming sales of 20,000 tonnes of U.S. soyoil to unknown destinations for 2012/13 delivery.
• Rally limited by expectations for a bumper South American soybean crop in early 2013. Argentina's main farm areas benefited from good weather in the last week, helping to advance soy planting after months of heavy rain and flooding.
• Weekly data from the U.S. CFTC showed large speculators cut their net long in soybeans by 29 percent in the week ended Nov. 13, the biggest percentage drop in more than 10 months, to a net long of 95,554 contracts.

FCPO - SINGAPORE, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures rose to their highest in two weeks on Monday, tracking gains in soybeans and rival soybean oil, although caution ahead of export data kept gains in check.

China, the world's top soy buyer, will temporarily halt regular state sales of soy from this week as Beijing starts a stockpiling programme for the oilseed, an official think tank said on Monday. 

The move came after heavy crush losses and weak demand that prompted Chinese buyers to cancel purchases of some 600,000 tonnes of U.S. soybeans over the past weeks.

Dalian soybean oil prices rose as analysts said some crushers could use a possible shortage of supply as an excuse to start hiking soy product prices, a move that could benefit competing palm oil.

Exports of Malaysian palm oil products for Nov. 1 to 15 fell 0.1 percent to 769,087 tonnes from 769,534 tonnes a month ago, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said on Friday.Another cargo surveyor, Societe Generale de Surveillance, reported a drop of 1.2 percent in exports for the same period. 

Regional Equities - Nov 19 (Reuters) - Major Southeast Asian stock markets closed flat-to-weaker on thin volumes on Monday as concerns over a Greece debt default weighed on sentiment ahead of a key meeting, despite some optimism the U.S. could overcome an imminent fiscal crunch.

European officials are due to meet on Tuesday and expected to discuss a two-year funding deal for Greece, a view likely to irk the International Monetary Fund, which wants a longer-term solution.

U.S. lawmakers' optimism on reaching a deal to avert the $600 billion "fiscal cliff" helped boost world equities, on hopes the move could prevent sending the world's largest economy back into recession.