CHICAGO: US soybean and corn futures fell on Thursday, pressured by profit taking after a streak of gains and by weakness on the cash market, traders said. Wheat futures rose slightly, with short-covering supporting prices despite a glut of global supplies.
Soybeans notched the biggest decline, shedding 1.5 percent after a four-session rally pushed prices to their highest in nearly a month.
Traders said farmers in parts of the Midwest were aggressive sellers of recently harvested soybeans, causing commercial operators to hedge cash market deals with sales in the futures market.
Cash market bids for corn also were weaker as many growers began to harvest. Weather forecasts for the weeks ahead "still do not look ideal for an extended harvest window, but central and eastern belt farmers should at least be able to make good headway in the coming days, starting to bring in these record 2016 US crops," Matt Zeller, director of market information at INTL FCStone, said in a note to clients.
At 11:06 a.m. CDT (1606 GMT), Chicago Board of Trade November soybean futures were down 15-3/4 cents at $9.74 a bushel and CBOT December corn was off 1-1/4 cents at $3.39-1/4 a bushel.
"There is some selling pressure today in soybeans and corn following their rises in past days, said Graydon Chong, senior commodities analyst with Rabobank.
"But markets remain relatively rangebound, with corn especially reaching the upper parts of its range so it is not unusual to see a move down at such a point in markets." CBOT December soft red winter wheat was up 3/4 cent at $4.06-3/4 a bushel.
In the wheat market, the focus turned to Indian demand. Indian importers have purchased around 76,000 tonnes of Ukrainian-origin wheat in the past couple of weeks as India steps up purchases after two years of poor output.
"If the Indian government decides to remove its import duty on wheat there could be big new sales to India in the near future," one European trader said.
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