Soybeans ease as rapid US harvest progress weighs

PARIS: Chicago soybeans eased on Tuesday to their lowest in almost two weeks as a brisk US harvest pace encouraged the oilseed market to retreat further from recent two-year highs.

Corn and wheat edged lower too, curbed by an advancing US corn harvest and caution ahead of widely followed US government grain stocks data on Wednesday.

The US soybean harvest was 20pc complete as of Sunday, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said after the market close on Monday, ahead of the five-year average of 15pc and the average estimate of 18pc in a Reuters poll of analysts.

The corn harvest lagged slightly as producers focused on soybeans.

The US corn crop was 15pc harvested, the USDA said, behind the five-year average of 16pc and the average analyst estimate of 17pc.

Weather forecasts are for mostly dry conditions for the rest of the week that could favour field work.

"US harvest is gaining momentum which is expected to weigh on prices," said Ole Houe, director of advisory services at agriculture brokerage IKON Commodities in Sydney.

The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was 0.4pc lower at $9.92-3/4 a bushel, as of 1021 GMT.

It eased earlier to $9.91, its lowest since Sept. 16, as it pulled further away from a two-year high of $10.46-3/4 struck in mid-September.

CBOT corn was down 0.6pc at $3.64-3/42 a bushel, while wheat was down 0.2pc at $5.49-1/4 a bushel.

Corn and wheat, which had closed higher on Monday, were consolidating below multi-month peaks reached in the past two weeks.

Soybean and corn markets were watching to see if a recent run of exports to China would be sustained.

Wheat continued to find support from unusually high Russian prices. Dry sowing conditions in Russia for next year's crop were adding to market tensions fuelled by strong exports and slow farmer selling.