| Last | Chg | |
| Corn | 320-4 | -0-2 |
| Soybeans | 962-4 | -1-6 |
| Wheat | 399-4 | +2-4 |
From Agrimoney:
The extent of the latest lurch lower in grain prices appears
to have taken by surprise even hedge funds, which had cut their bearish bets on
the complex – raising questions over whether fresh selling lies in wait.
Managed money, a proxy for speculators, raised its net long
position in futures and options in the top 13 US-traded agricultural
commodities, from cotton to cattle, by more than 113,000 contracts in the week
to last Tuesday, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading
Commission regulator.
The increase in the net long - the extent to which long
positions, which profit when values rise, exceed short bets, which benefit when
prices fall – reflected in part an increase of 27,375 contracts in the net long
in New York-traded soft commodities, taking it a fresh record high of 418,209
lots.
However, it also reflected a cut in the net short position
in the main grain contracts, including the soy complex, of 83,256 lots – the biggest
bullish turn in positioning in grains in more than two months.
Many hedge funds may wish they had held their nerve with
short bets, given the tumble in prices since last Tuesday of more than 5% in Chicago
corn futures, to contract lows, while Chicago wheat has shed a further 7% to
hit their weakest in 10 years.
'Did not go well'
In fact, short-covering was relatively light in Chicago soft
red winter wheat, with the net short cut by 1,761 contracts, with hedge funds
focusing more on Kansas City-traded hard red winter wheat, in which they reduced
their net long by more than 9,000 lots week on week....MORE
