CHICAGO: US soybean futures fell sharply on Monday, extending the steep declines of last week on pressure from investment fund selling and favorable extended weather outlooks for the developing crop, traders and analysts said.
Wheat futures were slightly higher at the Chicago Board of Trade, lifted by crop concerns in Europe, while corn prices were roughly unchanged.
"Soybeans led the way lower this morning, with minimal weather threats seen through Aug. 8," INTL FCStone analyst Arlan Suderman said in a note to clients. "Soybeans can still be adversely affected enough to dramatically tighten the balance sheet next month, but a legitimate threat still does not appear to be on the radar."
Soybean futures were trading at the lowest levels since April and declined 2 percent or more for their second straight session.
The most-active November soy contract finished 22 cents lower at $9.66-1/4 per bushel.
Speculative investors have built up a large net long, or bullish, stake in soybean futures, compared with bearish net short bets in both corn and wheat, according to US Commodity Futures Trading Commision data released on Friday. With extended weather outlooks showing normal amounts of precipitation in the Midwest crop belt, investors were unwinding those long positions, analysts said.
CBOT December corn settled 1/2 cent lower at $3.41-1/4 per bushel, holding above their contract low of $3.26-3/4 reached on Friday. Corn on a continuous chart also was holding above its 21-month low reached last week.
CBOT September wheat finished 3-3/4 cents higher at $4.29 per bushel, continuing its rebound from the nearly decade-low from earlier this month. Wheat was buoyed on prospects for smaller harvests in the top exporting region of the European Union.
Yield potential for the soft wheat harvest has deteriorated sharply in Europe due to worse-than-forecast damage from torrential spring rain, prompting analysts to cut crop estimates in top grower France to the lowest in 13 years.
Consultancy ODA Groupe expects the French 2016 crop to be less than 30 million tonnes, down from 32 million seen last week and 35 million in a July 6 estimate, it told Reuters on Friday. The 2015 crop was at a record 41 million tonnes.
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