Investors trim US soybean, corn shorts while adding wheat shorts: CFTC

Investors in the US soybean and corn markets continued to trim shorts in the week ended Tuesday March 19, reducing the net shorts that were at multi-year highs in both contracts in the past month, a report from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) showed late on Friday March 22.

This contrasts with the three US wheat contracts, where speculators continued to accumulate shorts, boosting the net short in the Chicago, Kansas and Minneapolis markets.

Soybean and corn market participants expressed concern about the impact of hot weather in Brazil and heavy rains in Argentina on crops.

US contracts were little changed during the period, with ample global supplies putting downward pressure on markets, while a surge in attacks by Russian forces on Ukrainian ports bolstered concern about the continued flow of grain shipments from the Black Sea region.

Investors in the soybean market reduced short positions by 6,922 lots during the week covered by the report, bringing the total to 204,4505 lots, down 8.9% from the 251 week high of 224,456 lots, reached in the week ended March 5.

Soybean long positions dropped by 124 lots to 56,166 lots.

The decrease in shorts together with the small decline in longs trimmed the net short by 6,798 lots to 148,339 lots, down 13.8% from the record 171,999 lots reached two weeks earlier.

The soybean oil market net short was slashed by 18,662 lots to 14,748 lots, while the soybean meal net short slipped by 4,061 lots to 46,874 lots.

In the corn market, speculators reduced shorts by 18,874 lots to 414,111 lots, a 10-week low.

Long positions dropped by 5,934 lots to 171,123 lots.

The large decline in shorts, coupled with the smaller decrease in longs, cut the net short by 12,940 lots to 242,988 lots, also a 10-week low.

In the Chicago wheat market — the most active US wheat contract — speculators boosted short positions by 4,976 lots to 161,291 lots, a 15-week high.

Long positions were increased by 3,276 lots to 80,721 lots.

The gain in shorts and the smaller rise in longs led to the net short rising by 1,700 lots to 80,570 lots, a 15-week high.

Investors in the Kansas wheat contract bolstered short positions by 3,556 lots to a 252-week high of 93,249 lots.

Speculators boosted the number of longs they held by 1,246 lots, which sent the total to 55,392 lots, a 114-week high.

The rise in shorts coupled with the smaller gain in longs increased the net short by 2,310 lots to 37,857 lots.

The Minneapolis wheat contract posted a 1,521 lot increase in shorts, bringing the total to 31,306 lots.

The number of longs climbed by 489 lots to 8,573 lots, a 32-week high.

The gain in shorts and the rise in longs led to a 1,032 lot gain in the net short, leaving it at 22,733 lots.