Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures rose on Friday on diminishing harvest estimates in South America, though trading remained volatile a day after prices reached a nine-month high, analysts said.
Corn and wheat futures jumped on increased concerns that Russia may invade Ukraine and disrupt grain shipments from the Black Sea region, a key area for exports. Washington urged all U.S. citizens to leave the country within 48 hours.
“The ags are supported by weather and geopolitical risks going into the weekend,” said Arlan Suderman, chief commodities economist for StoneX.
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The most-active CBOT soybean contract settled 8-3/4 cents higher at $15.83 per bushel, up two per cent for the week (all figures US$). Earlier in the session, it reached a low of $15.63-1/2 and a high of $15.94-3/4, compared to a nine-month high of $16.33 on Thursday.
CBOT corn settled 9-1/2 cents higher at $6.51 per bushel, up five per cent on the week. Wheat ended 26-1/4 cents firmer at $7.97-3/4 per bushel, up 4.5 per cent on the week.
Safras + Mercado, an agribusiness consultancy, became the latest private forecaster in Brazil to cut its 2021-22 soybean crop estimate due to dry weather. The firm pegged the harvest at 127.1 million tonnes, down five million tonnes from January.
In Paraguay, the soybean harvest could fall by as much as 50 per cent, Paraguay’s agriculture and livestock minister told Reuters.
“The bottom line is that there has been no improvement in the South American weather situation and given the forecast into the end of the month, there may be more losses coming,” said Tomm Pfitzenmaier, analyst for Summit Commodity Brokerage in Iowa.
A run of U.S. soybean export sales to China has contributed to the strength in futures prices.
Exporters reported the sale of 108,000 tonnes of U.S. soybeans for delivery to China; 30,000 tonnes of U.S. soyoil to unknown destinations; and 128,000 tonnes of U.S. corn to Japan, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.
— Reporting for Reuters by Tom Polansek in Chicago; additional reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Naveen Thukral in Singapore.
