US soyabean futures fell to a five-month low on Thursday and corn dropped to a 2-1/2 month low, pressured by plentiful global supplies amid bumper South American crops and expectations for large plantings in the United States. The actively traded May-delivery contracts for both commodities hit their lowest levels of 2017.
The US Department of Agriculture is scheduled to release its annual prospective plantings report late next week. The report is expected to show record-high soyabean acres.
Chicago Board of Trade May soyabean futures fell 8-3/4 cents, or 0.9 percent, at $9.91 a bushel. Soyabeans have declined for 12 of the last 14 sessions.
Soyaoil futures fell more than 1 percent on profit taking after hitting two-week highs on expectations that the United States would take steps to block some biodiesel imports.
The National Biodiesel Board on Thursday morning petitioned the US government to impose antidumping and countervailing duties on imports of Argentine and Indonesian biodiesel in violation of trade agreements.
CBOT May corn fell 2 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $3.56-3/4 a bushel, the contract's lowest since December 30. Larger-than-expected export sales limited declines in corn and soyabeans for much of the session. The USDA reported weekly export sales of old-crop corn at 1,347,100 tonnes, above a range of trade expectations and the largest in eight weeks. Soyabean sales also topped trade forecasts at 738,200 tonnes for 2016/17 shipment.
Chicago and Kansas City wheat notched fresh 2-1/2 month lows with a fourth session of declines as forecasts for rains are expected to boost crops, while spring wheat gained modestly on strong demand for high-protein grain. CBOT May wheat fell 1-1/4 cent to $4.21 a bushel and May KC wheat dropped 4-1/2 cents to $4.28. May spring wheat futures added 3 cents to $5.40-3/4 a bushel.