By Joe Hoppe


A roundup of key agricultural commodity markets for the week Sept. 3-Sept. 6 by Dow Jones Newswires in Barcelona.


GRAINS & OILSEEDS:


The macro mood is mixed as the U.S. dollar gains strength against commodity currencies ahead of a raft of crucial U.S. job statistics datasets this week.

Macroeconomic momentum in the agricultural sector waned last week after crude oil settled lower, and the dollar recovered against the Brazilian real and Chinese yuan. This week will see several different U.S. employment reports, the most important of which are Friday's nonfarm payroll data and U.S. employment rate, expected to add 165,000 jobs and sit at 4.2% respectively.

The unemployment rate has been creeping higher since April, and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said at the Jackson Hole symposium that the Fed wouldn't welcome any further cooling in labor-market conditions. A higher unemployment rate on Friday would worry the Fed, weaken the U.S. dollar and support dollar-denominated agricultural markets, Peak Trading analysts say in a note.

Extended U.S. weather forecasts look good, with cool and dry weather at the end of the harvest and light scattered showers heading toward the eastern Corn Belt next weekend. Overall, there is a sense that crops are getting smaller, bullish for commodity prices.

Demand is mixed, with another series of soybean flash sales last week signaling better demand at lower prices, but U.S. farmers are also emptying storage bins to make room for a record harvest, keeping a lid on prices, Peak Trading says.

September is usually the most bearish time of year for soybeans, and generally bearish for grain and oilseed markets. On the other hand, it is a bullish time of year for meat, sugar and cocoa markets.

Chicago wheat futures are 1.4% up at $5.59 a bushel on Monday, while corn is up 1.1% at $4.05 a bushel. Soybean prices are 0.1% up at $10.02 a bushel.


SOFT COMMODITIES:


Cocoa futures trade lower on week, though prices remain volatile amid low liquidity in the market. Prices have eased after reaching a peak of $11,722 a metric ton in April, but are still up by nearly 74% this year on supply-side challenges in West Africa, where about 70% of global cocoa is produced.

While cocoa has declined on week, it remains historically elevated, a situation likely to persist throughout the second half as dry weather across West Africa continues to support global prices, say analysts from BMI, a unit of Fitch Solutions.

The global sugar market has become increasingly sensitive to developments in Brazil, given the output challenges and export restrictions in India, and sugar is up on week on concerns over Brazilian output sparked by fires in Sao Paulo, BMI analysts say.

Cocoa is down 4.65% at $7,312 a metric ton, while sugar is 1.2% up at $0.20 a pound on Monday. Coffee is down 0.8% at $2.42 a pound.


Write to Joe Hoppe at joseph.hoppe@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

09-03-24 1136ET