PARIS/CANBERRA: Chicago soybean futures edged higher on Wednesday, extending gains from the previous session, as traders assessed the impact of hot and dry weather conditions in Brazil that are reducing yields in the world’s top producer. Wheat futures rose and corn was flat.

The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was up 0.1% at $13.47-1/2 a bushel, as of 1145 GMT, after rising 1.3% on Tuesday. Later contracts were trading mostly lower.

“Brazil is the focal point at the moment,” said Ole Houe at agriculture brokerage IKON Commodities in Sydney.

Uncertainty over the crop size would likely cause price volatility in the short term, Houe said, adding that Brazil’s soybean harvest would still be large.

“Even if we lost 20 million tons, we’d still have more than the 5-year average,” he said. “We can lose a lot of crop before it becomes really problematic globally.”

A consultant at MB Agro said he expected Brazil to reap 155 million metric tons of soybeans in the 2023/24 cycle, 10 million tons below initial expectations after drought affected farmers in Mato Grosso state who planted their crop early.

Also supporting soybean prices was a USDA confirmation that US exporters sold 123,300 metric tons of beans to unknown destinations for 2023/24 delivery.

In other crops, CBOT corn was unchanged at $4.73-1/2 a bushel and wheat rose 0.7% to $5.76-1/4 a bushel.

For wheat, Agritel said Russian production could reach 90 million tons in 2024 after favourable autumn sowing and Russian supply including that drawn from stocks could be above 100 million tons for a third consecutive season in 2024/25.