Corn ticks down as market weighs big acreage, lower stocks

• Corn found support in a lower than anticipated estimate of US corn stocks, which helped new-crop prices hold above contract lows struck on Tuesday.
• US corn sank to a 3-1/2 year low last month as a collapse in oil prices sapped demand for ethanol fuel, which absorbs around a third of the US corn crop.

PARIS: Chicago corn futures edged lower on Wednesday as a higher-than-expected forecast of US plantings added pressure to a market that has been weakened by crippled demand for ethanol fuel.

However, corn found support in a lower than anticipated estimate of US corn stocks, which helped new-crop prices hold above contract lows struck on Tuesday.

Soybeans fell as worries about demand during a coronavirus epidemic weighed on oilseed markets.

Wheat eased for a third session as a rally that took prices to a two-month top last Friday subsided.

US farmers plan to plant their biggest corn acreage in eight years this spring, despite weak demand from the biofuel industry as the coronavirus spreads, A US Department of Agriculture (USDA) report showed on Tuesday.

The agency surprised the corn market on Tuesday by projecting the area to be planted with the crop this year in the United States at 97 million acres, well above an average trade estimate of 94.3 million in a Reuters poll prior to the report.

"Yesterday's high acreage estimate dealt another blow to the corn price," Commerzbank said in a note.

US corn sank to a 3-1/2 year low last month as a collapse in oil prices sapped demand for ethanol fuel, which absorbs around a third of the US corn crop.

However, a separate USDA report pegging US corn stocks on March 1 at 7.95 billion bushels, well below market estimates and down sharply from a year ago, put a floor under prices, suggesting the impact of brisk export demand.

The most active corn futures on the Chicago Board Of Trade were up 0.4pc at $3.39-1/4 a bushel by 1139 GMT, holding above Tuesday's two-week low of $3.33-1/2.

New-crop December corn was down 0.8pc at $3.54-3/4, trading near Tuesday's life-of-contract low of $3.53-1/4.

The most active CBOT soybean futures were down 1.1pc at $8.76 bushel.

The USDA pegged soybean plantings at 83.510 million acres, below market expectations.

However, after drawing support in recent days from concerns that the coronavirus epidemic would disrupt supplies of soy from South America and palm oil from Malaysia, oilseed markets focused on the threat to demand.

Oilseeds are partly reliant on demand for vegetable oils in restaurants, which have been shuttered in some countries to curb the coronavirus, and for producing biodiesel fuel.

CBOT wheat was down 1.2pc at $5.61-3/4 a bushel.

Wheat traders were waiting to see if top exporter Russia would adopt a plan to cap grain shipments this quarter, a proposal that contributed to a rally in prices last month.