SINGAPORE: Chicago soybeans dipped on Friday, but the market remained on track for its first week of gains in a month, while corn was poised for its biggest weekly jump since mid-September as strong demand for U.S. shipments boosted prices.
Wheat inched higher, keeping the market in positive territory this week after a lower close last week.
“U.S. soybean and corn sales are pretty strong, which is supporting prices,” said one trader in Singapore.
“We have to see how long this demand for U.S. supplies lasts for further price direction.”
The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade lost 0.4% to $9.92-3/4 a bushel, as of 0358 GMT, and corn fell 0.2% to $4.20-1/2 a bushel, while wheat added 0.4% to $5.83-3/4 a bushel.
Soybeans are up 2.3% for the week, the market’s only weekly gain in one month, corn added nearly 4%, logging its biggest weekly rise in four, while wheat gained about 2% after losing ground last week.
Soybeans at one-week top on strong demand; wheat, corn firm
U.S. net corn sales for old and new crop totalled 4,183,777 metric tons for the week ended Oct. 17 - surpassing trade expectations and marking the largest week of U.S. corn export sales since May 2021, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) data on Thursday.
Net soybean sales for old and new crop reached an eight-week high at 2,151,743 tons, data showed.
Still, prices were kept somewhat in check by hefty global supplies and uncertainty over the outcome of the U.S. presidential election on future trade relations with key markets, analysts said.
The recent rainfall over Argentina’s agricultural heartland will likely continue into November, allowing for the normal planting of soybeans and corn, a leading meteorologist told Reuters on Thursday.
Wheat ticked up, with traders continuing to monitor the potential impact on Black Sea trade of Russian efforts to regulate exports.
Most of Ukraine’s winter crop is under threat as almost all seedlings are under-developed, analyst APK-Inform quoted Ukraine’s state weather forecasters as saying.
A record long drought this summer and early autumn led many farmers to sow grain in dry soil and the recent rains have improved the situation.
Commodity funds were net buyers of CBOT corn and soyoil futures contracts on Thursday, and net sellers of soymeal futures contracts, traders said. They were net even in CBOT soybean and wheat futures contracts, they said.