Chicago | Reuters –– U.S. corn and soybean futures turned lower on Thursday, reversing from one-week highs on technical selling and pressured by steep gains in the dollar that made U.S. commodities less attractive in export markets.
Wheat futures also fell, retreating from gains early in the session at the Chicago Board of Trade. The dollar surged to the highest levels since Oct. 6 against a basket of currencies, expanding the competitive disadvantage of U.S. grains in international markets.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said U.S. corn export sales totalled only 248,017 tonnes last week, below analyst estimates, and the smallest sales of the marketing year that started on Sept. 1.
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“The corn export sales this morning were disappointing, very weak for this time of year,” said Brian Basting, analyst for brokerage Advance Trading in Bloomington, Illinois. “We have exceptionally strong competition from Argentina, Brazil and Ukraine.”
Weekly export sales of soybeans topped analyst estimates, reaching two million tonnes, most to top global importer China. USDA separately said 463,000 tonnes of U.S. soybeans were sold within the last 24 hours, the third such “flash sale” this week.
A bumper U.S. soybean harvest has weighed on prices and allowed shippers in the U.S. to aggressively offer beans to China, which earlier this year sourced much of their needs from South America.
CBOT soybeans for November delivery settled 6-1/2 cents lower at $8.98-3/4, easing from their session peak of $9.13 (all figures US$). Prices also were gravitating to the $9 options strike price ahead of the expiry of November options on Friday, traders said.
CBOT December corn was down 2-1/2 cents to $3.78-1/4 and CBOT December wheat was off four cents at $4.90-3/4.
Welcome rains, of one inch or more, fell this week in parts of the southern U.S. Plains winter wheat belt while farmers continued to gather their autumn corn and soybean harvests.
Roy Huckabay, analyst at the Linn Group in Chicago, said farmers were selling only small portions of their crops, stowing away the majority in the hopes of higher prices later.
“The farmer selling that we see has stayed pretty consistent — it’s not heavy, it’s not big, it’s just a little bit every day,” he said.
“The dollar rallied… and then the beans sold off and the wheat sold off.”
— Michael Hirtzer reports on ag commodity markets for Reuters from Chicago. Additional reporting for Reuters by Nigel Hunt in London and Naveen Thukral in Singapore.
