BEIJING: Chicago soybeans and corn firmed on Friday, with wheat following suit ahead of a US Department of Agriculture supply-and-demand report that is expected to show strong global supply.
Fundamentals
The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was up 0.27% at $6.39-2/8 a bushel, as of 0149 GMT.
Corn gained 0.22% to $4.57-4/8 a bushel, while soybeans climbed 0.02% to $12.08-4/8 a bushel.
Russian regions hit by frosts this month will re-sow crops that were killed by the cold, state news agency TASS quoted the agriculture ministry as saying on Thursday.
Soy and corn harvesting in Brazil’s Rio Grande do Sul state has progressed slowly, according to fresh estimates by crop agency Emater on Thursday, which confirm fears that floods continue to disrupt field work and will impose heavy losses on local farmers.
Devastating floods that hit Rio Grande do Sul state should cause farmers to lose an estimated 1.32 million metric tons of soybeans there, affecting overall soybean output in the world’s largest producer and exporter of the oilseed, consultancy AgResource said on Thursday.
Argentina’s Buenos Aires grain exchange warned again on Thursday it may cut its forecast for the 2023/24 soybean crop, currently at 51 million metric tons, as warm weather and a lack of rain in the country’s north have led to lower-than-expected yields.
Argentine grains ports and soybean crushing plants in the area surrounding the major Rosario hub are standing idle due to a nationwide strike launched on Thursday, the head of the major grains exporting nation’s oilseed export chamber said.
The El Nino weather pattern should fade out by June but could be replaced by the La Nina phenomenon by the second half of the year, a US government forecaster said on Thursday.
Iran will not import any wheat until March 2025 as it will rely on domestic production, the Iranian Student News Agency reported a deputy at the Agriculture Ministry saying on Thursday.
Investors are expecting the USDA report due on Friday to show ample supplies in the United States and globally.