CANBERRA: Chicago soybean futures eased slightly on Wednesday, after rising sharply in the previous session as Beijing announced an anti-dumping investigation into imports of canola from Canada raised hopes that China could buy more US soy.
Wheat and corn futures also edged lower after rising sharply on Tuesday.
Fundamentals
The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was down 0.2% at $10.10-1/2 a bushel, as of 0055 GMT, after climbing 1.2% in the previous session and reaching its highest in a month.
CBOT wheat was down 0.1% at $5.66 a bushel and corn slipped 0.3% to $4.08 a bushel.
All three contracts are close to their lowest levels since 2020 due to plentiful supply. Speculators are betting that prices will fall further.
ICE canola futures plunged and Chinese rapeseed oil futures rallied after China responded to Canadian tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles with the canola probe.
More than half of Canada’s canola makes its way to China, the world’s biggest oilseed importer.
Overseas demand for US soybeans has been lacklustre but recent days have seen an uptick in export inspections and sales reported by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Meanwhile, the USDA reported that weekly condition ratings for the US soybean crop declined more than most analysts expected in the last week as dry conditions expanded in portions of the Midwest crop belt.
Stubbornly dry weather continues to linger over 20%-25% of the US soy and corn crops, mainly in the Ohio Valley and far northwest US Midwest areas, Commodity Weather Group said on Tuesday.
The USDA’s corn condition ratings held steady.