Milling & Baking News - January 6, 2004 - 35

I N G R E D I E N T

week comprised limited orders for immediate shipment to fill in gaps in nearby
coverage. Generally, a holiday mood prevailed, and many prospective buyers
were out of their offices. It was estimated
that overall coverage for the first quarter
of 2004 remained at about 50% to 60%.
The cash market for soybean oil held
steady after having given some ground in
recent weeks. Even with the recent weakening, the cash basis remained historically strong.
Prices of lard and edible tallow were
steady. But there were instances of cancellations of orders for tallow in the wake
of the "mad cow" controversy.
Palm oil prices were pressured after a
private analyst raised his carryover forecast because of recent strong production
numbers out of Malaysia. Peanut oil
prices remained very high, and corn oil
prices were firm, with recent export demand helping to underpin values in the
latter market.
Export demand for U.S. soybean oil
was light, with South American offers
much below those of U.S. exporters. MBN

Soy Flour
Bookings of soy flour remained light
last week, although inquiry from some
bakers increased. Prices were lower.
Most buyers were out of the market for
the New Year's holiday and were not expected to do any significant booking until
mid-January. However, a few bakers
completed bookings for the remainder of
2004, worried that tight soybean supplies
would send prices even higher.
New soy flour export business was reported by some mills last week.
Mills ran mostly four days last week,
closing only one additional day for the
New Year's holiday, and will resume full
schedules of five to six days this week. MBN

markets, along with fund trading to start
the new year, sent futures prices to or
near contract highs in Friday's trading.
Corn futures traded higher three out of
the four days, with March closing the
week up 13½c a bus. The comeback
started Monday as corn adjusted to the
previous week's overdone sell-off related
to mad cow disease. As the week ended,
it was positive export news from the U.S.
Department of Agriculture's weekly export sales report, and strong rumors that
China was again interested in buying
corn from the U.S.
Soybean futures hit contract highs
Monday and again on Friday, before settling slightly off highs for the week. Although trading was choppy during the
week, continued export interest and
ideas that demand could increase for soybean meal if meat and bone meal were
banned from all U.S. animal feed because
of mad cow disease, supported soy complex futures during the period. MBN

Oats
The food grade oat flakes market was
very quiet last week, and prices were unchanged. No significant new bookings
occurred. Interest was expected to pick
up this week as buyers return to offices
and assess their needs for 2004.
Oat mills ran heavily last week, closing
only for New Year's day. Shipments remained brisk for the hot breakfast cereal
season. Colder temperatures in northern
parts of the U.S. and bitter winter
weather in Canada should support hot

Spot Soybean Oil

Corn & Soy Futures
Export excitement replaced mad cow
panic as corn and soybean futures moved
mostly higher for the holiday-shortened
trading week. Strong indications that
China was back in the corn and wheat
bakingbusiness.com / world-grain.com

cereal demand through January. Parts of
the U.S. and eastern Canada have been
unseasonably warm so far this winter. MBN

Sweeteners
While sweetener markets were generally quiet last week, some contract activity in the HFCS arena began to shake
loose, and there were rumblings of concern that the U.S. Department of Agriculture might reduce allotments soon after
the first of the year.
Cash prices were poorly tested but
generally unchanged as both buyers and
sellers conducted little if any new business before the new year. Spot raws were
5 points lower, while deferred quotes
were mixed, down 10 to up 30 points. All
quotes were well below year-ago levels.
A limited number of contracts from
smaller firms began to trickle back to
HFCS refiners at 75c-per-cwt higher levels than the previous year. Producers expected a flood of the annual contracts
would be returned this week, not unusual for the industry. Refiners originally
announced offers for 2004 in late November and early December at $1.50 per cwt
above 2003 contract levels. Buyer response had been slow developing, with
some waiting for Mexico's vote on its
20% tax on beverages made with HFCS
and on the U.S. ethanol bill. Both came
out negative for refiners and positive for
HFCS buyers.
The other topic of concern was that
continued low prices of raw sugar could
soon prompt the U.S.D.A. to reduce the

Oats

Decatur, Ill., bulk cents per lb
Jan. 2

Week's
change

Oat flakes, food grade, f.o.b.
Minneapolis, bagged, $ per cwt 18.75@19.25
Milling quality oats, No. 2 heavy,
delivered Minneapolis, $ per bu
1.72
Oat screening, clean out,
oats unground, $ per bu
.80@1.10
Oat hull, ground hulls only, $ per ton 10@15

Corn Meal
Sales of corn meal remained brisk last
week across all product categories except
for seasonally sluggish brewers grits.
Prices were higher.
Demand for flaking grits from breakfast cereal manufacturers and for the
more finely granulated grits used to produce extruded products was good. Snack
meal volume also remained heavy.
Corn mills were down one or two extra
days for the New Year's holiday last
week and will resume full run schedules
of five to six days this week. MBN

W E E K

-
+81/2
-
-

Spot Shortening
Bulk, cents per lb

Chicago Soybean Oil Futures
Bulk in tank cars, cents per lb
Jan. 2
Week's
Delivery
close
change
January
28.04
+0.20
March
27.91
+0.21
May
27.76
+0.27
July
27.48
+0.26
August
27.03
+0.33
September
26.18
+0.08

Year
ago
21.06
21.19
21.15
21.11
20.93
20.85

Soybean oil, Decatur
Loose lard, Chicago
Edible tallow, Chicago
Cottonseed oil, Miss. PBSY
Palm oil, ports
Palm kernel oil, ports
Coconut oil, West coast
Peanut oil, Southeast
Corn oil, Decatur
Sunflowerseed oil, Midwest
Canola oil, Midwest

Jan. 2
29.75
25.50
29.50
34.50
26.00
30.50
28.00
65.00
30.00
31.50
33.50

Week's
change
+.25
-
-
+.25
-.25
-
-.25
-
-
+.25
+.75

Milling & Baking News, January 6, 2004 / 35

Year
ago
22.50
19.50
20.50
...
23.75
27.00
23.75
45.00
30.00
33.00
31.25

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Milling & Baking News - January 6, 2004

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