PARIS/SINGAPORE: Chicago corn and soybean futures dipped on Friday as traders booked profits after two-week highs and set brisk US exports against a bumper US harvest and improved planting weather in South America.
Wheat tracked corn lower, with easing global weather concerns and rapid Russian exports also pressuring prices.
The most-active corn contract on the Chicago Board of Trade was down 0.9% at $4.17-3/4 a bushel by 1105 GMT, while soybeans were 1.0% lower at $9.86-1/2 a bushel.
Both markets reached their highest in about two weeks on Thursday when the US Department of Agriculture reported the biggest weekly volume of US corn export sales in three years while also announcing more daily corn and soybean export sales.
“We have to see how long this demand for US supplies lasts for further price direction,” said one trader in Singapore.
The upturn in exports has helped corn and soybeans recover from multi-week price lows. But ample supplies and worries about trade tensions arising from the upcoming US presidential election were still hanging over the market, analysts said.
Recent rainfall over Argentina’s agricultural heartland will likely continue into November, allowing for the normal planting of soybeans and corn, a meteorologist told Reuters on Thursday.
Regular rain this month in much of Brazil has also eased worries about drought delays to soybean planting there.
CBOT wheat was down 1.3% at $5.74-1/4 a bushel, breaking a three-day rise.
Corn, soy and wheat ease further
The improved crop conditions in Argentina as well as some rain relief in parched Russian and US wheat belts were allaying immediate worries about global wheat supplies, though growing conditions in Russia and Ukraine remained mixed.
Traders continued to monitor the potential impact of Russian efforts to regulate exports.
While there was a risk of reduced Russian exports later in the season, the world’s biggest wheat supplier continued to ship heavy volumes.
“Even if Russian wheat has become more expensive, it’s still one of the cheapest origins in the world,” Argus analyst Maxence Devillers said.