CANBERRA: Chicago corn and soybean futures fell further on Monday after the US Department of Agriculture last week confirmed that ongoing US harvests will be among the largest on record.
Wheat futures also edged lower after the USDA raised its global wheat supply outlook, though concerns about exports from the Black Sea limited losses.
Fundamentals
The most-active corn contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was down 0.3% at $4.14-1/2 a bushel, as of 0027 GMT, and trading at its lowest level since Sept. 27.
CBOT soybeans slipped 0.5% to $10.00-1/2 a bushel after falling below $10 for the first time in a month.
Wheat was down 0.1% at $5.98-1/4 a bushel. * US farmers produced even more corn than expected this year, the USDA said in a report on Friday, expanding its forecast for the nation’s second-biggest harvest.
The USDA trimmed its soybean production forecast, but the crop is still expected to be a record. * The United States is the world’s largest corn exporter and the No. 2 soybean supplier after Brazil.
For wheat, the USDA reduced its estimate for world 2024/25 production but raised its ending-stocks outlook to 257.72 million metric tons, around 1.6 million tons more than analysts had expected.
Speculators, who had lifted prices of all three contracts in recent weeks by closing bearish positions, were net sellers of all three CBOT contracts on Friday, traders said.
In wheat, top exporter Russia asked exporters at a closed-door meeting on Friday not to sell wheat by tender to international buyers below a minimum price, sources said.
The de-facto price floor - and a rise in wheat export duties - is set to curb exports that flowed in large quantities in recent weeks.
Meanwhile, agricultural consultancy Sovecon cut its 2024 Russian wheat harvest forecast to 81.5 million tons from 82.9 million tons previously.
Russia is one of several major wheat exporters that have suffered from adverse weather conditions that have reduced crop yields and lifted CBOT prices in recent weeks.