US MIDDAY: corn sags

US corn futures fell 1 percent on Thursday on profit-taking and optimism over seeding progress and prospects for the new crop, while soyabeans rose on tight US supplies, traders said. Wheat fell on technical selling and seasonal pressure as the US harvest neared, with the Chicago Board of Trade July contract hitting a six-week low.
At the CBOT as of 12:07 pm CDT (1707 GMT), July corn was down 8-1/4 cents at $6.42-1/2 per bushel after finding support at its 20-day moving average of $6.40-1/4. July soyabeans were up 17-1/4 cents at $14.30 after reaching $14.31, the contract's highest level since March 28. July wheat was down 9-1/2 cents at $6.84-1/4 a bushel. Farmers in the US Corn Belt have been planting frantically this week, taking advantage of mostly favourable weather to catch up after a historically slow start this spring.
"Finally we will see some solid progress on corn planting this week, before it gets wet again over the weekend and pushes the farmers out of fields," said Joyce Liu, an analyst at Phillip Futures. Rains this weekend and early next week are likely to stall their progress but also add beneficial soil moisture. "Today's planting delays become tomorrow's moisture and will help the crop get established," said Jim Gerlach, president of A/C Trading in Fowler, Indiana.
Weekly export sales data for corn were disappointing, adding pressure on prices. The US Department of Agriculture reported corn export sales for the 2012/13 and 2013/14 marketing years at 258,500 tonnes, a 10-week low. Soyabeans advanced, led by nearby contracts on strength from the US cash market. Domestic soya processors continue to pay historically high basis levels to draw out the last of the 2012 soyabean harvest from the country.
Wheat prices declined as the Northern Hemisphere winter wheat harvest approached, a time of seasonal market pressure. Weekly US wheat export sales totalled 540,700 tonnes, a three-week low. Additional pressure stemmed from some forecasts for much-needed rain in Russia, where dry conditions are threatening crop prospects. "Showers were 0.1 to 0.5 inch (0.25 to 1.25 cm) in Ukraine yesterday but will be increasing there and in southern Russia. As much as 75 percent of (the) belt is likely to see needed showers in the next five days, averting wheat stress and aiding corn/sunflower stands," the Commodity Weather Group, a US forecaster, said in a daily note.