Chicago / Reuters – Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures rose 1.1 percent on Tuesday, snapping a streak of five straight declines on a round of bargain buying after prices fell to their lowest levels since late June, traders said.
Corn also rose, but gains were muted by declines in the wheat market as well as expectations that the majority of the crop in the U.S. Midwest will pass through its key pollination phase without too much stress.
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Wheat notched its sixth straight lower close, hitting a 3-1/2 week low on poor export demand for U.S. supplies.
Firm cash markets lent further support to both corn and soybeans. Country movement has slowed in recent days as the weakness in the futures market cut into prices being offered to farmers.
“Everybody is falling all over themselves to originate old-crop beans, to capitalize on these crush margins,” said Tom Fritz, partner with EFG Group in Chicago. “That keeps the old-crop beans alive, and there’s a little spillover into new-crop beans.”
CBOT August soybeans settled up 11 cents at $10.18-3/4 a bushel. CBOT September corn was 1-1/2 cents higher at $4.06-1/2 a bushel.
CBOT September soft red winter wheat futures dropped 8 cents to $5.24-3/4 a bushel, closing near its session low. Deferred contracts posted bigger losses.
Egypt’s General Authority for Supply Commodities on Tuesday said it bought 350,000 tonnes of wheat from Russia. There was no U.S. wheat offered in the tender, traders said.
An Australia-based agricultural commodities analyst stressed U.S. wheat was overpriced against global market values.
“It has another $10 to $15 (a tonne) downside here. The U.S. harvest is also progressing very well,” he said.
– Mark Weinraub reports on grain markets for Reuters from Chicago. Additional reporting by Julie Ingwersen in Chicago, Naveen Thukral in Singapore and Sybille de La Hamaide in Paris.
