Soybeans up for 4th week as LatAm weather supports prices

SINGAPORE: Chicago soybeans gained more ground on Friday, with the market on track for its fourth weeks of gains as dry weather in Argentina underpinned prices.

Wheat and corn are poised for weekly losses.

"Season 2021 prices continue to creep up on season highs traded recently," said Tobin Gorey, director of agricultural strategy at Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney. "Argentina's weather outlook is helping to support prices."

The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board Of Trade (CBOT) added 0.5% to $14.17-1/4 a bushel by 0340 GMT. Soybeans are up almost 1% this week, the market's fourth consecutive week of gains.

Wheat is down around 1.3% for the week and corn has lost 2.5%.

The Buenos Aires Grains Exchange said it could cut its harvest forecast for 2020/21 soy production in Argentina, the world's top soymeal exporter, if it does not rain sufficiently in key producing areas over the weeks ahead.

The US Department of Agriculture will update its estimates on global supplies in a monthly report due on Tuesday. Record US soybean crushings and exports are already projected to shrink US soybean stocks to a mere 9-1/2 day supply ahead of the next North American harvest.

In Ukraine, exporters could boost grain shipments in the July-June season as harvests may reach a record high, the deputy economy minister in charge of agriculture said.

For wheat, improved Black Sea weather is weighing on prices.

A mild Russian winter has dramatically improved the condition of winter grain sowings, which were previously hit by a dry autumn, weather forecaster Hydrometcentre said on Thursday, signalling brighter prospects for the country's 2021 crop.

Most Ukrainian winter grain crops are in excellent condition thanks to favourable weather that could lift the 2021 harvest to a record high above 75 million tonnes, a senior government official said on Thursday.

In news, China will raise its minimum purchase price for wheat and rice as appropriate in 2021, the country's Premier Li Keqiang said in his annual work report on Friday at the opening of this year's meeting of parliament.

Li also said in his report that China will expand the production of edible oilseeds this year, and that the country would ensure the security of animal and plant breeding resources in the five years to 2025.