Chicago | Reuters—Chicago soybean futures lost more ground on Tuesday, setting another four-year low a day after U.S. Department of Agriculture data reinforced the prospect of a bumper U.S. harvest.
Corn edged lower, giving up some of Monday’s gains as a better than expected rating of U.S. crops tempered support from a surprise downward revision to projected U.S. corn stocks.
Wheat also eased against a backdrop of competition from cheaper Black Sea supplies and after a modest purchase by Egypt in a huge import tender.
Read Also
Alberta crop conditions improve: report
Varied precipitation and warm temperatures were generally beneficial for crop development across Alberta during the week ended July 8, according to the latest provincial crop report released July 11.
The most active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Sv1 settled down 23-1/2 cents at $9.62-1/2 a bushel, the lowest since September 2020.
CBOT corn Cv1 gave up 4-1/4 cents to finish at $3.97-1/4 a bushel, and CBOT wheat Wv1 ended down 8 cents at $5.28-3/4 a bushel.
The USDA raised its estimates for corn and soybean production on Monday, putting its soybean crop projection at a record level.
With “non-threatening” weather predicted for the next few weeks, “there’s no threat to that yield forecast and to that production estimate for the moment,” said Mark Soderberg, senior agricultural market analyst at ADM Investor Services.
“We’re trying to find a price level that stirs up better demand and probably more importantly, starts to discourage South American growers from planting more beans than they did last year.”
He added that speculators were likely sitting on a record short position in soybeans.
But Soderberg noted a higher trend with Minneapolis wheat, with production there having been forecast below expectations.
A separate USDA report on Monday left weekly ratings for corn and soybean crop conditions unchanged, contrary to market expectations of a slight decline.
The USDA reported some corn sold to Mexico on Tuesday morning, but not enough to impress the market, said Soderberg.
Egypt’s state grains buyer said it bought 280,000 metric tons of wheat in a tender on Monday, falling well short of its target of 3.8 million tons.
—Additional reporting for Reuters by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Naveen Thukral in Singapore
