From Agrimoney:
Hedge
funds have been badly burned by the continuing slump in grain and
oilseed futures prompted by US crop inventory data, having bet on the
stocks statistics sparking a surge in prices.
Managed
money, a proxy for speculators, raised their net long position in
Chicago corn futures and options to more than 192,000 lots in the week
to last Tuesday, according to data from the US Commodity Futures Trading
Commission.
The net long position – the extent at
which long positions, which profit when prices gain, outnumber short
ones, which benefit when values fall – was the highest in nearly five
months, and extended a hefty switch towards more bullish positioning
during March.
And it
came ahead of a US Department of Agriculture grain stocks report which
had been expected by analysts to show a year-on-year slump of some 1bn
bushels in domestic corn inventories as of March 1, thanks to resilient
consumption of last year's drought-diminished harvest....MORE
Speculators' net longs in grains and oilseeds, Mar 26, (change on week)
Chicago corn: 192,561 (+47,026)
Chicago soybeans: 112,352 (+12,428)
Chicago soymeal: 41,997, (-8,511)
Kansas wheat: 2,966 (+1,298)
Chicago wheat: -21,782 (+11,675)
Chicago soyoil: -31,548, (+17,628)
Sources: Agrimoney.com, CFTC
