US corn and soyabean futures fell to four-year lows on Tuesday as mild and mostly dry weather across the US Midwest is expected to boost the harvest of record crops. Wheat fell in tandem with retreating corn and soya, anchored by plentiful global supplies and strong competition for export business. Chicago Board of Trade December corn fell 4-3/4 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $3.25-1/2 per bushel, the lowest level for a front-month contract since June 2010.
CBOT November soyabeans fell 2 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $9.36-1/4 a bushel after hitting a low of $9.31, the lowest level for a front-month contract since June 2010. "There are more and more reports coming in about good to exceptional corn yields in the northern half of the Corn Belt and weather is ideal for taking care of the crop maturation problem in the northern third of the Corn Belt," said Rich Nelson, chief strategist with Illinois-based consultancy Allendale Inc. The US Department of Agriculture pegged 74 percent of the corn crop as good to excellent as of Sunday, stable with last week and in line with analysts' expectations.
Soyabeans were pegged at 71 percent good to excellent, down 1 percent from last week. Analysts had expected the condition to remain unchanged. Soyabean maturity, indicated by leaves dropping, was pegged at 45 percent, ahead of market expectations for 41 percent, but below the five-year average. The US Department of Agriculture said late on Monday that the corn harvest was 7 percent complete as of Sunday and the soya harvest was 3 percent done, both in line with a year ago but slightly behind the five-year average.
Only light showers were forecast this week in the US Midwest crop belt, which should allow farmers to make rapid progress in the corn and soya harvest, the Commodity Weather Group said in a note to clients. CBOT December wheat shed 3/4 cent, or 0.2 percent, to $4.76 a bushel, after ending up 0.5 percent the previous day following news of the first US wheat sale to Egypt's state wheat buyer since March. Mick Commadeur, a commodities trader at Emerald Grain in Melbourne, Australia, said, "There is going to have to be further US export business or supply shocks to provide significant gains."