Chicago | Reuters – Chicago soybean futures rose about one per cent on Tuesday on optimism about demand for U.S. supplies, analysts said, but stayed below a two-month high set last week.
Corn settled flat to firmer after the U.S. Department of Agriculture in a monthly report raised its forecast of U.S. corn exports for the current marketing year, while wheat futures ended fractionally lower.
Chicago Board of Trade March soybean futures SH26 settled up 11-3/4 cents at $11.22-1/2 per bushel. The contract had reached $11.37-3/4 last week, its highest level in two months.
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CBOT March corn CH26 ended unchanged at $4.28-3/4 a bushel while May corn CK26 closed up 1/4 cent at $4.37-1/4. CBOT March wheat WH26 finished down 1/2 cent at $5.28-1/4 a bushel.
Soybeans rose despite bearish data in the USDA’s monthly supply-demand report. The agency raised its estimate of soybean production in Brazil, the world’s top supplier of the oilseed, to 180 million metric tons, up from its previous estimate of 178 million and above an average of analyst estimates for 179.39 million.
The USDA left its forecast of U.S. soybean stocks remaining at the end of the current marketing year unchanged at 350 million bushels.
Some brokers remain optimistic that U.S. soybean exports will increase, potentially tightening end-year inventories, in light of U.S. President Donald Trump’s remark last week that China had increased its target for U.S. soybean purchases under a trade truce. “China is reported to be considering buying more U.S. soybeans,” the USDA said in the text of its report.
“They (traders) believe that the ending stocks are going to come down, from the administration trying to be pro-demand from China,” said Don Roose, president of Iowa-based U.S. Commodities.
Meanwhile, CBOT soyoil futures hit contract highs across the board, buoyed this week by optimism about demand from the biofuels sector as well as a U.S.-India trade pact that could spur export business.
Corn and wheat futures sputtered, anchored by abundant global supplies. The USDA raised its forecast for U.S. 2025/26 wheat ending stocks, bucking trade expectations for a cut. The government attributed the higher wheat stocks forecast to a reduction in demand from domestic flour millers.
For corn, the USDA raised its estimate of U.S. 2025/26 exports by 100 million bushels and cut its forecast of corn ending stocks by the same amount.
In Western Europe, France’s agriculture ministry raised its 2026 sowing estimate for the country’s main wheat crop slightly, confirming its expectation of an expanded area compared with last year.
-Additional reporting by Ella Cao and Lewis Jackson in Beijing and Gus Trompiz in Paris
