CANBERRA: Chicago soybean and corn futures rose on Friday and were set for their second consecutive weekly gains as floods disrupted harvesting in top exporter Brazil and a leafhopper insect plague ate into Argentina’s corn crop.
Wheat futures climbed, but were on track for a weekly fall as traders moderated their concerns that dry weather in Russia and the United States would hit yields and supply.
The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was up 0.5% at $12.04-1/2 a bushel, while corn rose 0.7% to $4.62-3/4 a bushel and wheat added 1.2% to $6.11-1/4 a bushel.
Soybeans touched their highest levels since March 26 and corn its highest since Jan. 8. Soybeans headed for a 2.3% weekly gain, with corn up 2.8%, while wheat lost so far 1.8% from last Friday’s close.
However, all three contracts hovered near four-year lows reached earlier this year amid plentiful supply, and speculators are still betting on lower prices.
Crops have been hit by flooding in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil’s second-largest soybean and sixth-largest corn state, where the harvest is in its final stages.
“Crops are under a foot of water. We don’t know the extent of the damage because its still wet and the forecast is for further rain,” said Rabobank analyst Vitor Pistoia.
“The state could easily lose 1 million tons,” he said. Meanwhile, hot and dry weather in central Brazil are damaging corn that is nearing harvest and at a critical stage of development, Pistoia said.
Further south, leafcutter insects and adverse weather saw the Buenos Aires grains exchange slash its estimate for Argentina’s 2023/24 corn harvest by 3 millions metric tons to 46.5 tons.
Argentina is the world’s no. 3 corn exporter.
However, forecasts for rain in the United States and Canada are improving the yield outlook in those countries, offsetting bad news from South America, Pistoia said, predicting volatility in prices in the coming weeks.
Also weighing on soybeans are sharp losses in soyoil and crude oil prices this week.
The US dollar weakened, helping CBOT futures by making US farm goods cheaper for buyers with other currencies.