US corn, soyabeans and wheat fell as much as 1 percent on Tuesday as investors adjusted positions ahead of US government crop estimates, due at midday, that should confirm ample global grain supply. Agricultural futures at the Chicago Board of Trade also came under pressure from tumbling crude oil futures and a rising US dollar. Corn eased after climbing to a three-week high on Monday.
"Losses in the outside markets... are spilling over into the commodities," MaxYield Cooperative analyst Karl Setzer said in a note to clients. "There is very little interest in buying anything ahead of the report numbers, which is not uncommon after buying such as we have seen in recent sessions." CBOT corn for March delivery eased 3-1/4 cents to $3.88 per bushel as of 10:30 am CST (1630 GMT).
CBOT March soyabeans were down 2-3/4 cents to $9.75-3/4 and CBOT March wheat 1-1/2 cents lower to $5.28-1/4. The US Department of Agriculture, in its monthly supply and demand figures, was likely to make only minor adjustments to its forecasts, and global grain supplies were ample in the early days of bumper South American harvests, which follow record-high US corn and soya crops last autumn.
On Tuesday, Australia eased one of the few production concerns in the wheat market when the world's No 4 exporter raised its forecast for the just harvested 2014/15 wheat crop, citing timely rains in key growing regions. "The market is waiting to see what is going to happen in the USDA report, obviously the trend has been of lower prices and good supplies across the board," Phin Ziebell, agribusiness economist, National Australia Bank, said. Soyabeans drew some support earlier this week on news that top soyabean importer China purchased 120,000 tonnes, while analysts at AgRural and FCStone reduced forecasts for the crop in Brazil.
Comments
Comments are closed.