CHICAGO: US corn and soyabean futures each fell about 2% on Wednesday, a day after monthly US Department of Agriculture (USDA) forecasts failed to offer fresh bullish news, freeing traders to book profits following recent multi-year highs, analysts said.
Wheat futures also declined, following the trend, with beneficial moisture expected to bolster crop prospects in the US Plains this week.
As of 1:14 p.m. CST (1914 GMT), Chicago Board of Trade May corn was down 11-1/2 cents at $5.34-1/4 per bushel and May soyabeans were down 31 cents at $14.09 a bushel.
CBOT May wheat was down 5 cents at $6.51-1/2 a bushel.
The benchmark CBOT soyabean contract was backing down from a near seven-year high set Monday at $14.60, while benchmark corn hit a 7-1/2-year high last month, driven up by export demand and uncertainty about the size of South America’s crops.
Argentina’s Rosario Grains Exchange on Wednesday cut its estimate of the country’s 2020/21 soyabean harvest to 45 million tonnes, from 49 million previously, citing dry weather.
The USDA on Tuesday trimmed its Argentine soya crop estimate to 47.5 million tonnes, from 48 million last month, but it raised its estimate of Brazil’s soya harvest to 134 million tonnes, from 133 million. The USDA also raised its forecast of global ending stocks of both corn and soyabeans, bucking trade expectations for a reduction.
“This time of year, where you didn’t get anything from the USDA with the crop report that the bull can point to, you can see some liquidation,” said Terry Linn, analyst with Linn & Associates.
Funds hold net long positions in CBOT corn and soyabean futures, leaving the markets vulnerable to bouts of long liquidation.
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