Chicago | Reuters — U.S. soybean futures rose 2.1 per cent on Friday, climbing back above US$15 a bushel for the first time since mid-March after the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s forecast for 2023 plantings and its March 1 soy stockpiles estimate both came in at the low end of trade expectations.
Corn futures ended mixed, with nearby contracts rising on bullish U.S. March 1 stocks data, while deferred contracts fell on a larger-than-expected USDA plantings forecast.
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Chicago Board of Trade May soybeans settled up 31 cents at $15.05-1/2 per bushel after reaching $15.13-3/4, the contract’s highest since March 13 (all figures US$).
CBOT May corn ended up 11 cents at $6.60-1/2 a bushel while new-crop December corn finished down 1/2 cent at $5.66-1/2. CBOT May wheat settled unchanged on the day at $6.92-1/4 a bushel, anchored by a larger-than-expected USDA wheat acreage figure.
Soybean futures rose after the government projected 2023 plantings of the oilseed at 87.5 million acres, up only slightly from 2022 and near the low end of estimates in a Reuters poll of analysts. USDA also reported March 1 soy stocks at 1.685 billion bushels, down 13 per cent from a year ago.
“What really sticks out is that the soybean stocks are at the low end of trade expectations. That… seems to indicate that we could see some price rationing,” said Karl Setzer, brokerage research lead with Mid-Co Commodities.
For corn, USDA pegged quarterly stocks at 7.401 billion bushels, the smallest for March 1 in nine years. Looking ahead to this spring, USDA projected 2023 corn plantings at 92 million acres, up four per cent from 2022.
However, traders cautioned that wet weather in southern reaches of the U.S. crop belt and heavy snow in the Dakotas and Minnesota could complicate plantings in the coming weeks.
“These acreage numbers are all moot unless the snow starts to melt in the northern U.S. Plains,” said Ed Duggan, senior risk management specialist at Top Third Ag Marketing.
For the first quarter of the year, CBOT wheat fell 12.6 per cent, with corn down 2.7 per cent and soybeans down 1.2 per cent.
— Julie Ingwersen is a Reuters commodities correspondent in Chicago.
