CANBERRA: Chicago corn and soybean futures hovered just below multi-month highs on Wednesday, as US farmers stepped up their selling and took the momentum out of a price rally.

Soybeans rise for fourth session on Latam dryness, corn down

Wheat prices fell slightly without strong upward pressure from rising corn prices.

Fundamentals

• The most active corn contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was up 0.2% at $4.75-1/2 a bushel at 0126 GMT after reaching $4.80, its highest since December 2023, on Tuesday.

• CBOT soybeans rose 0.1% to $10.48-1/4 a bushel after touching $10.64, their highest since October last year, on Tuesday.

• Wheat dipped 0.1% to $5.46 a bushel.

• Corn and soy futures surged after the US Department of Agriculture on Friday cut its estimates for US 2024 corn and soybean production and end-of-season stockpiles by more than analysts had expected.

• Traders said farmers had begun taking advantage of higher prices to sell. Expectations that rain could aid Argentine crops stressed by a heat wave were also a drag on prices.

• Speculators were again net buyers of corn and soy on Tuesday, albeit at a much smaller scale than on Friday or Monday, traders said. Funds have a hefty net long position in CBOT corn, leaving the market vulnerable to long liquidation, but are net short in soybeans.

• Weighing on soybean prices is the start of Brazil’s harvest. State crop agency Conab said on Tuesday Brazil would produce a record-breaking 166.32 million metric tons. Private forecasters predict a harvest as large as 173 million tons.

• Conab also slightly lowered its Brazilian corn production forecast to 119.55 million tons.

• Brazilian soybeans are cheaper than US beans. Exporter group ANEC raised its export forecast for Brazil in January to 2.19 million tons.

• CBOT prices are also under pressure from a strong dollar making US crops costlier for overseas buyers. The greenback has dipped since Monday but remains near two-year highs.