CHICAGO: US soybean, corn and wheat futures eased on Monday, weighed down by technical selling and expectations for more crop-friendly rainfall in Argentina.
Wheat futures reversed from early gains even as bitter cold temperatures in the United States left dormant plants vulnerable to damage. Chicago Board of Trade soybeans were headed for the largest declines of the three commodities.
CBOT January soybeans fell 11-1/2 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $10.25-1/4 per bushel as of 11:51 a.m. CDT (1751 GMT), following two straight sessions of gains last week.
"There's a little premium being taken out because Argentina got rain," said Zaner Group broker Tim Hackbarth. The Commodity Weather Group in a note to clients said rains over the weekend and more precipitation later this week would benefit nearly all of the driest spots in Argentina.
The meteorology firm also said that half of the US Plains wheat belt was cold enough over the weekend to kill some wheat plants. CBOT March wheat was down 4-1/2 cents to $4.04-3/4 per bushel. K.C. March hard red winter wheat was off 3 cents to $4.11-3/4, off their earlier peak of $4.19-3/4. Corn for March delivery was down 4-1/4 cents to $3.52 per bushel, a roughly one-week low.
The dollar, which eased from last week's 14-year high against a basket of major currencies, remained a curb on US grain futures as it makes dollar-priced commodities less attractive to overseas buyers.
However, export demand for US soybeans and corn remained robust.
The US Department of Agriculture through its daily export sales reporting program said China purchased 264,000 tonnes of US soybeans to China and 128,000 tonnes of US corn to Japan.
Parts of the US Plains and Midwest have experienced since the weekend negative Fahrenheit temperatures, equivalent to minus 18 degrees Celsius or lower, a level that can threaten wheat crops depending on snow cover.
"It is very cold in the US and that has some concerned about crop losses," said Phin Ziebell, agribusiness economist, National Australia Bank.
Roughly 20 percent of the hard red winter wheat crop in the US Plains is vulnerable to frost damage, an agricultural meteorologist said on Friday.
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