SINGAPORE: Chicago soybeans inched higher on Tuesday, with bargain-buying supporting the market, which dropped to its lowest in almost four years in the previous session on expectations of ample global supplies.
Wheat edged higher after deep losses, although the market is likely to face headwinds from improved crop prospects in Russia.
“Northern hemisphere harvest is still going on and wheat prices will remain under pressure,” said Dennis Voznesenski, a Commonwealth Bank analyst in Sydney.
“We are going to see higher prices towards the year end.” The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) rose 0.1% to $10.41-1/2 a bushel, as of 0326 GMT, after dropping to its lowest since October 2020 on Monday.
Wheat gained 0.1% at $5.33-1/4 a bushel and corn added 0.6% to $4.06-3/4 a bushel.
After the market closed on Monday, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) rated 68% of the US corn and soybean crops in “good to excellent” condition, unchanged from the previous week.
The ratings fell short of analyst expectations for a slight improvement, but were still the highest for this time of year for both crops since 2020.
Analysts said US crops benefited last week from the remnants of Hurricane Beryl, which brought showers to dry areas of the eastern Midwest crop belt.
Soybeans head for biggest weekly fall in over a year on strong supply outlook
More rain fell over the weekend, and forecasts called for milder temperatures this week after a spell of hot weather.
“The rainfall in the north-central Midwest over-performed expectations from Friday and favoured corn and soybeans,” satellite technology company Maxar said in a daily crop weather note.
Improved weather in the US Midwest has boosted corn and soybean prospects.
Brazilian farmers in the key center-south region had harvested 74% of their second corn crop for the 2024 cycle, as of last Thursday, up from 63% in the previous week, agribusiness consultancy AgRural said on Monday.
The pace of work was well above the 36% level seen a year earlier, as farmers in large states such as Mato Grosso enjoyed good weather during the harvest.
The US soy crush declined in June and fell below most trade estimates but was still the highest on record for the sixth month of the year, according to National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA) data released on Monday.
Wheat has faced pressure in recent weeks by the Northern Hemisphere winter wheat harvest and prospects of sizable crops in top exporter Russia and the United States.
Russia’s IKAR agricultural consultancy raised its forecast for the country’s wheat crop to 83.2 million metric tons, from 82 million tons previously.
The USDA on Friday raised its projection of the US 2024 wheat harvest to 2.008 billion bushels, topping a range of analysts’ expectations.
Commodity funds were net sellers of Chicago Board of Trade corn, soybean, wheat and soymeal futures contracts on Monday and net buyers of CBOT soyoil futures, traders said.
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