CHICAGO: US soybean futures hit a two-month low on Thursday, pressured by rising government forecasts for a record-large Brazilian soy harvest, traders said.
Corn and wheat followed soybeans lower.
At 12:42 p.m. CST (1842 GMT), the Chicago Board of Trade May soybean futures contract was down 14-1/4 cents at $10.07-1/2 per bushel after dipping to $10.06-1/4, its lowest since Jan. 10.
CBOT May corn was down 5-3/4 cents at $3.66-1/2 a bushel and May wheat was down 3-1/2 cents at $4.43-1/2 a bushel.
Soybeans fell after the US Department of Agriculture in a monthly supply/demand report hiked its forecast of Brazil's 2016/17 soybean harvest to a record 108 million tonnes, from 104 million in February.
The USDA also cut its estimate of US 2016/17 soybean exports, citing competition from the big Brazilian harvest, and consequently raised its forecast of US soy ending stocks to 435 million bushels, above an average of analyst estimates.
"USDA finally recognized that second-half US exports are not going to be as large as what they were hoping because of larger and larger South American crops," said Terry Reilly, senior commodities analyst at Futures International.
The USDA's moves came hours after Brazil's agricultural statistics agency, Conab, raised its estimate of the country's soy crop to 107.6 million tonnes, up from 105.5 million tonnes previously.
CBOT corn futures fell as both Conab and the USDA raised their estimates for Brazil's 2016/17 corn production. The USDA also raised its forecast of global 2016/17 corn ending stocks to 220.68 million tonnes, above an average of trade expectations and up from 217.56 million last month.
"We probably just bought a touch more (US) corn acres today, given the decrease in the soybean/corn ratio and also the realization that there's a record amount of beans on hand for the next 24 months across the globe," Reilly said.
Wheat futures found underlying support after the USDA trimmed its forecast of US 2016/17 wheat ending stocks to 1.129 billion bushels, down 10 million from last month. But forecasts calling for much-needed moisture in the Plains kept a lid on rallies.
"The wheat market was penalized by weather forecasts predicting the return of rains in big US regions of production hit by a hydric deficit," consultancy Agritel said.
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