Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures rose on Monday, rebounding from a 14-month low hit early in the session on bargain buying as well as some worries about the developing crop in South America, traders said. Weather concerns allowed soyabeans to rise on a day when a firm dollar and concerns about the European Union's solution to its debt crisis weighed on other US commodities, including corn and wheat.
"Dryness in Argentina is holding the market together. There is enough concern," Newedge USA analyst Dan Cekander said. "The low export shipment pace in beans is a drag on the market, but if you are going to get a weather problem going, that will soon take precedence." Both wheat and corn closed well above their session lows as a wave of bargain buying supported prices after a weak open.
"We essentially held the lows from Friday and you have to wonder if that is starting to tell us that the most bearish news is already into the market," said Chad Henderson, analyst with Prime Agriculture. The US dollar firmed and stock markets dived as investors judged that last week's pact to bind EU economies closer together would fail to quell its financial crisis.
"The EU deal not up to snuff is the big news this morning," brokerage Intl FCStone said in a research note to clients. "Thus the dollar is higher and commodities as a whole are lower." CBOT January soybean futures settled up 4 cents at $11.11 a bushel. Prices hit a low of $10.95 earlier in the session, their lowest level since Oct. 8, 2010. CBOT March corn dipped 1/4 cent to $5.94 a bushel. The front-month December contract, which expires this week, ended unchanged at $5.85-1/2 a bushel.
CBOT March soft red winter wheat fell 1-3/4 cents to $5.94-1/4 a bushel. Expiring December wheat rose 2 cents to $5.75-1/2. Twenty-six of the 27 EU leaders on Friday agreed to pursue stricter budget rules for the single currency area and also to have eurozone states and others provide up to 200 billion euros in bilateral loans to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help tackle the crisis.
The US Agriculture Department unexpectedly raised its estimate of corn supplies on Friday and boosted its stocks forecast for soyabeans and wheat more than expected. Poor export demand for US commodities keyed the bigger-than-expected stocks forecasts as high prices for US grains have caused overseas buyers to look elsewhere to fill their supply needs.