Chicago soyabean and corn futures edged lower on Tuesday, dragged down by weaker crude oil prices, with forecasts for better weather in the US crop belt weighing on corn. "It is crude oil's decline, as oil is a good indicator for agricultural commodities," said Tobias Merath, head of commodity research at Credit Suisse in Singapore, referring to the use of corn and soyabeans in making renewable fuel.
After the markets closed on Monday, the US Department of Agriculture's first corn planting progress update of the year showed only 2 percent of the US corn crop was seeded by Sunday, behind the five-year pace of 6 percent on cool and wet weather. Chicago Board of Trade soyabeans for May delivery fell 3-1/4 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $10.18-1/4 per bushel and May corn dropped half a percent, or 1-3/4 cents, to $3.85-3/4 per bushel.
Chicago May wheat fell 0.3 percent, or 1-1/2 cents, to $5.21-3/4 a bushel. China, the world's top soyabean buyer, has been buying more cargoes from the United States and Brazil this year as it is reluctant to book shipments from Argentina, where unrest between farmers and the government has caused concerns over supplies.
That demand was underscored in the USDA's weekly export inspection data issued on Monday. The government reported soyabean inspections were running 11 percent ahead of a year ago, nearing 1.0 billion bushels, and included a 5 million bushel upward revision in last week's tally. More than half of this week's exports of 10.4 million bushels was headed to China. China's Dalian soyabean market also fell, with the January contract trading 0.7 percent lower. Crude oil edged lower to hover below $50 a barrel, extending Monday's 4.2 percent decline.