US corn, wheat and soyabean futures were about flat on Wednesday, with prices steadying near multi-week peaks reached in the previous session following a bullish US Department of Agriculture supply report. Corn rose by nearly 1 percent at the Chicago Board of Trade while wheat and soyabeans each were up by about 0.5 percent or less as investors continued to exit short positions.
"The markets, especially wheat and corn, are taking a breather following the sharp gains on Tuesday caused by the USDA forecasts," said Frank Rijkers, agrifood economist at ABN Amro Bank. "The USDA forecasts are still being absorbed and assessed by the market but there is profit taking today with some of the price rises on Tuesday seen as excessive."
CBOT wheat for March delivery was up 2-1/2 cents at $4.83-1/2 per bushel as of 11:01 am. CDT (1701 GMT), after climbing to a session high of $4.84-1/4, highest in 2-1/2 weeks. USDA estimated US winter wheat plantings below expectations and at its smallest area since 2010.
"The survey is quite a shock for a market that, based on pre-publication surveys, was expecting an inconsequential fall," said Tobin Gorey, director of agricultural strategy, Commonwealth Bank of Australia. CBOT March corn was up 2-1/4 cents at $3.59 and CBOT March soyabeans up 3-3/4 cents to $8.78-1/4, with each contract failing to surpass the highs from Tuesday. The USDA had lowered its estimate of last year's US corn crop, sparking a wave of short covering on Tuesday.
The USDA lowered its estimate of the US 2015 soyabean harvest to 3.930 billion bushels from 3.981 billion previously, and cut its forecast of 2015-16 soya ending stocks to 440 million bushels, from 465 million bushels last month. China, the world's largest soya buyer, imported 9.12 million tonnes of soyabeans in December, up 23.4 percent from 7.39 million tonnes in November, Chinese customs data showed.
Prices were buoyed by the massive net short position held by speculative investors, with government data late last week showing a record net short in CBOT wheat. Brazil's record soya crop was still maturing while US farmers were beginning to make decisions on how much corn and soyabeans they would start planting as early as next month. "The brunt of the Brazilian growing season is still ahead of us here," said Mark Gold, analyst at brokerage Top Third Ag Marketing.