CANBERRA: Chicago corn, soybean and wheat futures steadied on Tuesday after concerns that US President Donald Trump will impose trade tariffs pushed prices lower in recent days.
The most active corn contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was up 0.2% at $4.83 a bushel at 0622 GMT, with CBOT soybeans flat at $10.44-3/4 a bushel and wheat up 0.1% at $5.36-1/4 a bushel.
Last week, corn rose to a 15-month high of $4.95, soybeans to a six-month peak of $10.76-1/4 and wheat to a six-week high of $5.67, in part due to relief that Trump did not impose tariffs as soon as he was inaugurated.
But Trump in recent days threatened to impose large tariffs on Colombia after it temporarily refused to accept deportees from the United States, and he has spoken about placing tariffs on Canada and Mexico from Feb. 1.
A giant sell-off of tech stocks on Monday also spread a bearish mood through markets, and China’s Lunar New Year holiday, which starts on Tuesday, is expected to slow grain and oilseed exports. Soybeans are under pressure from an announcement by Argentina that it will reduce export taxes and harvesting of a massive Brazilian crop, which will add to supply in the coming months.
Weak demand is dragging on wheat despite fears that cold weather may have killed some US winter wheat and a slight increase in export prices from top shipper Russia. “Trump brings a lot of volatility,” said Vitor Pistoia, an analyst at Rabobank in Sydney.
Speculators hold a large net long position in CBOT corn due to expectations of tight supply but are broadly even in soybeans and net short wheat despite expectations of tightening wheat supply. Warm conditions in the Black Sea region are raising the risk that wheat will grow more than it should and become vulnerable to cold snaps in the coming months, Pistoia said. “We are locked and loaded for the wheat price to go up but we need a trigger. This could be it.”—
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