Milling & Baking News - March 25, 2008 - 60

Ingredient Week

Sweeteners

Activity in sweeteners was minimal
last week with pricing generally steady.
Considerable attention was directed
to the unscheduled closing of a powdered sugar operation at a major Louisiana cane refinery the previous Friday
after the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration found potentially combustible dust. The company said it was
"proceeding with an abundance of caution" following the Feb. 7 blast in Georgia. The Louisiana plant will be closed
for several days to clean up the dust.
Powdered sugar users, including bakers
of sweet goods and donuts, experienced
logistics problems because of the shutdown but said the problems were "only
an inconvenience" so long as the closing
was not unduly prolonged.
While sugar producers acknowledged
a number of buyers recently had requested new crop pricing, sales were limited.
Select buyers contracted as much as 10%
of their targeted new crop business during the past week or two, but most users remained on the sidelines. Forward
business, in at least one instance, saw
a discount of 1c a lb from the current
quote of 28@28½c f.o.b. on Midwest beet
sugar, but the seller in this instance subsequently quoted 28@28½c. Other producers booked roughly 10% of new crop
production in the 28@28½c range.
One major sugar producer indicated
it had done "significant" new crop busi-

Beet and cane sugar

ness some weeks back but added that
sizable sales this early were not uncommon for it.
Bulk refined sugar prices were steady.
Midwest beet sugar was at 28@29c a lb,
f.o.b., with refined cane sugar holding
at 29.50c in East and Florida. Refined
cane sugar was offered at 29@30c a lb
in the South and at 30c in the Southeast. West coast sugar prices were at
29@29½c f.o.b.
Traders continued to monitor Mexico, emphasizing most Mexican arrivals were estandar inputs for cane sugar
refineries. Mexico's National Sugar and
Alcohol Chamber said the 2007-08 sugar
harvest generated 3,050,249 tonnes of
semi-refined estandar through March
15, up 7.6% from a year ago. Much of the
Mexican sugar entering the U.S. in recent
weeks has been part of established trade
with U.S. operators. Ongoing reports indicated Mexican interests were looking
for new U.S. business, but there was no
confirmed sizable volume.
Prospective cutbacks in sugar beet
plantings received attention. Some cooperatives noted their members were
planning to cut acreage by 8% to 10%. At
least one cooperative indicated plantings
would hold at last year's level but that it
had a sizable cut in area the prior year.
Corn sweetener markets were quiet. MBN

Bakery Shortening

Wide price declines in most ingredi-

ents ignited a flurry of bakery shortening bookings last week.
The weaker tone emerged in soybean
oil and spread to the other fats and oils.
Soybean oil futures prices plunged.
While the South American soybean crop
advanced revealing better-than-expected
yields, soy market fundamentals were
otherwise unchanged. Soybean oil was
caught up in a massive correction that
swept across commodity markets in response to bounces in the equity markets
and the ailing U.S. dollar and overall
macro-economic uncertainty. The cash
basis on soybean oil was unchanged.
The buckling in soybean oil prices encouraged a wave of buying aimed at ensuring contract balances were extended
at least 60 days. Most buyers held back
from extending ownership even further
in the hope the downward price correction would continue.
Soybean oil prices were dropping to
levels that could encourage consideration of increased usage in biodiesel production. For months, the high price of
soybean oil discouraged such usage and
biodiesel manufacturers turned to other
raw stocks, such as tallow.
The downturn affected all products
except peanut oil and corn oil. Supplies
of these oils remained exceptionally
tight. Palm oil prices followed the Chicago soybean oil board, and even most notrans alternatives to soybean oil found
their prices declining. MBN

Sweeteners
Delivered basis, cents per lb
42% HFCS spot price1

f.o.b. plant, cents per lb

HFCS list price2
Regular
- Change from - Year
corn
March 20 March 14 March 7 ago
syrup3
Dextrose
42% HFCS wet 55% HFCS wet
March 20 Year ago
Midwest beet 28.00 @ 29.00
-
-
25.00
19.875 East
18.875
21.875 net
173/8@ 175/8 143/8@ 145/8
31.35@33.35
Pacific beet
29.00 @ 29.50
-
-
27.50 Midwest
21.425 Midwest
20.425
23.425 net
30.35@32.35
Cane*
29.45 @ 29.50 -.05
-.05 27.20 Northeast 18¾@ 19 15¾@ 16
21.625 West
20.625
23.625 net
Southeast 187/8@ 191/8 157/8@ 161/8
33.35@35.35
*Spot raw plus 7% plus 6.75c with 2% cash discount.
21.125
20.125
23.125 net
Southwest 18½@ 18¾ 15½@ 15¾
Raw cane
21.825
20.825
23.825 net
West
193/8@ 195/8 163/8@ 165/8
Delivered refiner, cents per lb
1-Variations in prices often tied to tank car versus truck deliveries. 2-Prices are the lowest available to the publication. 3-Regular 42 DE/43 Baume, f.o.b. tank cars, trucks
- Change from -
Contract
March 20 March 14 March 7
Nearby
20.45
-.25
-.35
April-June
20.45
-.25
-.35
July-September
20.45
-.30
-.35
October-December 21.05
-.10
-.15
January-March
20.90
-.25
-.20
April-June
21.05
-.20
-.10

Spot soybean oil
Decatur, Ill., bulk, cents per lb

Year
ago
20.70
20.70
20.75
20.95
21.00
21.25

Chicago soybean oil futures
Bulk in tank cars, cents per lb
March 20 - Change from -
Delivery
close March 14 March 7
May
54.40
-6.16
-8.93
July
55.14
-6.18
-8.91
August
55.38
-6.32
-8.92
September 55.50
-6.32
-8.70
October
55.45
-6.32
-8.50
December 55.83
-6.52
-8.70

Edible oils
Bulk, cents per lb
Year
ago
31.96
32.36
32.55
32.80
32.97
33.43

Crude soybean oil
Bulk in tank cars, cents per lb
Delivery
Decatur, Ill.
March
51.65 @51.90
April
51.65 @51.90
May
51.65 @51.90
June
52.02 @52.27
July
52.39 @52.64
August
52.63 @52.88
September
52.75 @53.00
62 / March 25, 2008

Milling & Baking News

Western points
50.65 @50.90
50.65 @50.90
50.65 @50.90
51.02 @51.27
51.39 @51.64
51.63 @51.88
51.75 @52.00

- Change from - Year
March 20 March 14 March 7 ago
Soybean oil,
Decatur
54.00
Loose lard, Chicago 46.00
Edible tallow,
Chicago
51.25
Cottonseed oil,
Miss. PBSY
77.50
Palm oil, ports
64.75
Palm kernel oil,
ports
72.75
Coconut oil
73.50
Peanut oil,
Southeast
101.50
Corn oil, Decatur
89.25
Sunflowerseed oil,
Midwest
95.00
Canola oil, Midwest 69.00

-3.50
-.50

-3.75
+.25

30.00
35.00

-1.75

-.50

24.75

-3.50
-3.25

-3.75
-6.00

33.50
31.50

-1.50
-.50

-7.50
-1.25

43.00
35.50

+3.50
+.25

+2.50
+.25

49.00
30.00

-2.00
-3.50

-5.00
-3.75

54.75
39.50

bakingbusiness.com / world-grain.com

http://www.bakingbusiness.com http://www.world-grain.com

Milling & Baking News - March 25, 2008

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Milling & Baking News - March 25, 2008