Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Board of Trade soybean and grain futures eased on Thursday as a strong U.S. dollar added to concerns about lacklustre export demand, traders said.
The dollar rose for a fourth straight session to a two-month high, making U.S. commodities look less attractive to importers.
Favourable weather for planting of U.S. corn and soybeans also hung over agricultural markets, though there are concerns about the risk for dryness to develop, traders said. Supplies of both crops are expected to rise sharply in the coming year due to forecasts for record harvests.
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“The crop is off to a great start,” Tomm Pfitzenmaier, analyst for Summit Commodity Brokerage in Iowa, said about corn.
CBOT December corn, which represents the crop that is being planted this spring for harvest in the fall, fell four cents, to $5.16 a bushel (all figures US$).
Nearby July corn futures, the most-active contract, ended 3-1/2 cents higher at $5.90-3/4 a bushel. Strength in the cash market helped support the old-crop contract.
Soybean futures finished down 1/2-cent at $13.24 a bushel, off the session low of $13.05. Wheat also weakened, with the most-active contract slipping two cents to end at $6.04-1/4 a bushel.
“Cool, dry weather favours planting of any remaining corn and soybean acreage,” the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a daily report. “However, topsoil moisture shortages are becoming more apparent.”
USDA separately reported weekly net export sales reductions of 75,200 tonnes for U.S. old-crop corn in the week ending on May 18. Net new-crop corn sales totaled only 52,100 tonnes, near the low end of analysts’ expectations.
Weekly export sales of U.S. old-crop soybeans were 115,000 tonnes, at the low end of trade expectations, and new-crop sales were below expectations at 1,100 tonnes.
For U.S. wheat, USDA reported net reductions of 45,100 tonnes for old-crop export sales. Net new-crop wheat sales totaled 245,100 tonnes, toward the low end of expectations.
— Reporting for Reuters by Tom Polansek in Chicago; additional reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Naveen Thukral in Singapore.
