US soyabean and corn futures fell about 1 percent on Tuesday on improving harvest weather in the Midwest crop belt and some profit-taking a day after both commodities neared two-month highs, traders said. Wheat was mixed in choppy trade.
As of 12:45 p.m. CDT (1745 GMT), Chicago Board of Trade November soyabeans were down 10-1/2 cents at $8.81 per bushel and December corn was down 3-3/4 cents at $3.74-1/2 a bushel. CBOT December wheat was up 1/4 cent at $5.25-1/4 a bushel. "Weather forecasts for the Midwest are looking drier. The US soyabean harvest has been slow and is certainly behind the five-year average but it is still too early to write it off," said Matt Ammermann, commodity risk manager with INTL FCStone. Following widespread storms last week that slowed fieldwork, the US Department of Agriculture late Monday said the US soyabean harvest was 38 percent complete, lagging the five-year average of 53 percent and hardly up from 32 percent in the previous week.
The corn harvest was 39 percent complete, still ahead of the five-year average of 35 percent.
The USDA rated 66 percent of the soyabean crop as good to excellent, down from 68 percent the previous week, while corn condition ratings were unchanged. CBOT wheat was mixed, with the December contract paring gains after hitting its highest in around two weeks on speculation that tightening global supplies will bring more export business to the United States. US wheat exports look set for a strong second half of the 2018/19 season, the chairman of the USDA's World Agricultural Outlook Board said.