SINGAPORE: Chicago soybeans and corn futures ticked higher on Thursday, after both markets came under pressure in the previous session from beneficial rains andmilder weather in the U.S. Midwest.
Wheat rose for a third consecutive session, although cheap Black Sea supplies are likely to curb gains.
“The outlook for soybean prices remains bearish despite some weather related issues in the Midwest,” a Singapore-based trader said. “For wheat, we have cheaper cargoes coming from the Black Sea region, but overall global supplies are still tight.”
The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) rose 0.3% to $9.79-3/4 a bushel, as of 0421 GMT and corn added 0.2% to $3.91-1/2 a bushel.
Wheat gained 0.1% at $5.42-1/4 a bushel.
Market players have raised concerns that recent hot, dry weather in the U.S. Midwest will dent expectations of bumper U.S. corn and soy crops.
Worries over the heat wave in the Midwest have underpinned prices in the past few sessions because of potential damage to the soybean crop during its key development stage.
However, rainfall has reduced dryness in many areas, though uncertainty remains over whether it will be enough to help the soybean crop reach its potential.
In Europe, excessive rains have dented German and French wheat crops, even though cheap exports from the Black Sea have continued to keep the world supplied with the grain and undercut U.S. exports.
Canadian wheat production will increase more than 4% this year, Statistics Canada said on Wednesday, less than analysts had expected at a time when global supplies are expected to reach a nine-year low.
Total output is projected to reach about 34.4 million metric tons, compared with 32.9 million in 2023, the agency said in a survey based in part on satellite and agroclimatic data. Analysts polled by Reuters expected 35.125 million tons.
Ukrainian farmers have started winter grain sowing for the 2025 harvest, seeding the first 2,000 hectares of winter wheat and 600 hectares of winter barley, the APK-Inform consultancy quoted official data as showing on Wednesday.
Last year, Ukraine started winter grain sowing in early September.
India is considering an increase in import taxes on vegetable oils to help protect farmers reeling from lower oilseed prices, two government sources said on Wednesday.
Commodity funds were net buyers of CBOT soyoil and wheat futures contracts and sellers of soybean, corn and soymeal contracts on Wednesday, traders said.
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