Chicago Board of Trade soyabean futures rose on Tuesday, supported by the US Agriculture Department's cut to crop ratings and its report showing planting has fallen behind the typical pace, traders said. Corn and wheat futures rose too, edging higher on mild bargain buying after posting sharp declines on Monday. The gains in corn, which also was receiving support from declining crop ratings, pulled it from contract lows.
"The low held overnight thanks to lowered crop ratings," Matt Zeller, director of market information at INTL FCStone, said in a note to clients. "The bears may have a tough time taking it much further in the next two weeks." The USDA will release its closely watched reports on corn and soyabean plantings as well as quarterly stocks at the end of June. At 10:28 am CDT (1528 GMT), CBOT July soyabean futures were up 8-1/2 cents at $9.46-1/4 a bushel.
The USDA said on Monday afternoon the soyabean crop was rated 67 percent good to excellent, down from 69 percent last week following rains in the US Midwest and southern Plains. Overall, 87 percent of the soya crop was planted, up from 79 percent the week before but still behind the five-year average of 90 percent by mid-June. CBOT July corn, which has fallen for five sessions in a row, was up 1-1/2 cents at $3.49-3/4 a bushel. The USDA lowered its good-to-excellent rating for the US corn crop by 1 percentage point to 73 percent.
CBOT July wheat climbed 1-1/4 cents to $4.90-1/2 a bushel, bouncing from a two-week low. Russia's IKAR, a leading Moscow-based agriculture consultancy, has downgraded its 2015 wheat crop forecast by 1 million tonnes to a range of 55 million to 59 million tonnes due to dry weather in several regions of the country. In Australia, a major wheat producer, the output forecast for the 2015/16 season starting July 1 was cut to 23.6 million tonnes from a previous estimate of 24.4 million tonnes as an El Nino weather phenomenon dries out farmland.