SINGAPORE: Chicago corn slid for a fifth consecutive session on Monday, while soybeans dropped to a two-week low as expectations of milder weather in the US Midwest reduced concerns over supplies.
Wheat slid almost 2%, but was on track for a second month of gains with worries over Black Sea supplies driving prices higher in recent weeks.
“US weather is driving corn and soybeans lower,” said one Singapore-based grains trader. “Wheat prices have dropped below $7 a bushel, but the supply situation for wheat is still uncertain.
Any further escalation in the Russia-Ukraine war can drive prices higher.“
The most-active corn contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was down 2.1% at $5.19 a bushel, as of 0407 GMT, and soybeans gave up 1.8% to $13.57-1/2 a bushel, after declining to their lowest since July 14 at $13.57 a bushel.
Wheat fell 1.9% to $6.90-3/4 a bushel. In July, corn has risen around 5%, soybeans are up 1% and wheat climbed 6%.
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Forecasts of cooler weather in the US Midwest are driving prices lower.
But the market expects the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to lower weekly condition ratings for corn and soybean crops in a report on Monday because of the recent heat.
Heading into August, the key period of development for US soybean crops, much of the country is expected to get a reprieve from significantly above-normal temperatures, the USDA said.
The market is monitoring the situation in Ukraine after Russia earlier this month quit the Black Sea grain export deal and warned that ships heading to Ukrainian seaports could be considered military targets.
A senior Ukrainian official on Friday accused Russia of threatening civilian vessels in the Black Sea.
The Russian military, meanwhile, said it shot down a Ukrainian missile over the southern Russian city of Taganrog.
Russia’s Sovecon agriculture consultancy has raised its wheat harvest forecast for 2023 to 87.1 million metric tons from 86.8 million, it said on Friday.
Russia will get buyers of its farm exports to pay in roubles rather than dollars as a way to circumvent western sanctions, Deputy Prime Minister Viktoria Abramchenko said on Friday.
Large speculators trimmed their net short position in CBOT corn futures in the week ended July 25, regulatory data released on Friday showed.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly commitments of traders report also showed that noncommercial traders, a category that includes hedge funds, trimmed their net short position in CBOT wheat and raised their net long position in soybeans.
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