CANBERRA: Chicago corn and soybean futures steadied on Wednesday after hitting multi-week lows in the previous session as forecasts for rain in Brazil and Argentina eased concerns that dry conditions could reduce production.
Corn, soy and wheat ease further
Wheat futures also rose after three days of losses, with expectations of lower shipments from Russia in the coming months and a further downgrade for the French crop offsetting forecasts for yield-boosting rain in the Black Sea region.
Fundamentals
The most-active corn contract on the Chicago Board of Trade was up 0.3% at $4.02-1/2 a bushel at 0035 GMT, while CBOT soybeans rose 0.5% to $9.96-1/4 a bushel and wheat climbed 0.4% to $5.82 a bushel.
Corn and soybeans have slipped roughly 7% from highs around the start of the month and have been heading towards four-year lows. Wheat is down around 5% from its highs earlier this month.
A stronger US dollar and a pullback in oil markets this week has also pressured prices.
After a dry stretch that delayed early planting, key crop areas in South America have received good rains in recent days and forecasts call for more over the coming week.
Brazil’s crop agency Conab said it expected the country to harvest 166.05 million metric tons of soybeans in the 2024/25 season, 12.7% more than in 2023/24, and 119.74 million tons of corn, up 3.5% year-on-year.
Brazil is the world’s largest soybean exporter and a big shipper of corn.
Meanwhile, mostly dry weather in the US farm belt has boosted harvesting of what the US Department of Agriculture expects will be the largest US soy crop on record and the second-largest corn crop.
The US corn harvest was 47% complete by Sunday and the soybean harvest was 67% finished, data from the USDA showed on Tuesday.
Commodity funds have sold large quantities of CBOT corn, soybean and wheat futures in recent days, driving down prices, and did so again on Tuesday, traders said.
One area of support for soybeans was data showing that the US soybean crush topped all trade estimates in September.
Wheat has been under pressure from rain in the Black Sea, the world’s biggest exporting region, and forecasts predict more rainfall in the coming days, facilitating planting that had been hampered in some places by dry conditions.
The Russian government last week set a minimum price and a higher export duty to limit exports, but the impact of the measures remains unclear.
France’s farm ministry further cut its estimates for the country’s soft wheat and barley crops, which were damaged by too-heavy rain, while raising its outlook for the maize harvest that is getting underway.