US soyabean futures trimmed losses on Thursday amid concerns that a return of wet weather could extend planting delays. Rain has slowed planting of soyabeans and corn this spring, fuelling worries that farmers may not sow as many acres as they originally intended. Late planting also threatens to reduce yields by postponing key stages of development until the hottest parts of summer.
Dry weather will open the door for fieldwork until Saturday, when showers are expected to begin again, said Mike Palmerino, meteorologist for Telvent DTN. "We have waves of moderate to heavy rains," he said. "Producers are going to try to do as much work as they can, fields permitting."
Chicago Board of Trade July soyabeans, the nearby contract, were down 0.2 percent at $15.29-1/2 a bushel by 12:40 pm CDT (1740 GMT), after dropping as low as $15.19-1/4 in earlier trading. November soyabeans which represent the crop that will be harvested in the autumn, dipped 0.1 percent to $12.99 a bushel after dropping as low as $12.85-1/4.
Spot-month July corn was up 0.2 percent at $6.62 a bushel, while new-crop December corn rose 0.7 percent to $5.46 a bushel. Wheat futures stumbled, with the front-month July contract down 0.9 percent at $6.95 a bushel. Farmers are anxious to put their crops in the ground. The US Department of Agriculture, in a weekly progress report on Monday, said soyabean planting was 57 percent complete as of June 1, the slowest rate for that time of year since 1996. Planting was behind the five-year average of 74 percent.
Weekly US corn export sales of 158,800 tonnes were well below expectations of 600,000 tonnes to 900,000 tonnes. Soyabean export sales of 638,300 tonnes topped expectations of 350,000 tonnes to 600,000 tonnes. Traders unwinding intercommodity spread trades weighed on soyabeans and helped to lift corn, said Mike Zuzolo, president of Global Commodity Analytics & Consulting. Traders were long new-crop soyabeans and short new-crop corn, he said. "The ability of the corn to bounce here in light of those dismal weekly export sales is founded on the spreading," Zuzolo said.
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