CHICAGO: Chicago soybean futures dipped on Thursday as broad selling in financial markets countered weather concerns in South America that had pushed prices to a five-month high.
Corn eased, but like soybeans pared losses as private estimates of South American crops fell further due to hot, dry conditions in the region.
Wheat extended losses to a three-week low, pressured by large southern hemisphere harvests.
The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was 13 cents lower at $13.81-3/4 a bushel at 10:31 a.m (1631 GMT).
CBOT corn fell 2 cents to $6.00-3/4 a bushel, while CBOT wheat lost 22-3/4 cents to $7.42 a bushel. The session low was $7.36, its lowest since Oct. 19, 2021.
Drought in southern Brazil and increasingly hot, dry conditions in Argentina have put attention on potential yield losses for soybean and corn crops in the major exporting countries.
“Hot weather is coming in south America next week,” said Mark Schultz, chief analyst at Northstar Commodity. “There’s supposedly better rainfall the week after in Argentina. That’s going to be the make-or-break on the size of the crop down there.”
Brazil is no longer expected to harvest a record 2021/22 soybean crop, consultancy AgRural said on Thursday, as hot dry weather in the south knocked 11 million tonnes off its crop forecast.
Private exporters reported a daily sale of 102,000 tonnes of soybeans to Mexico, although weekly export sales were near the bottom or below trade expectations for nearly all commodities.
For the week ended Dec. 30, soybean export sales of 449,800 tonnes were a marketing year low, while corn exports of 256,000 tonnes were 81% lower than the previous four weeks and wheat exports of 51,100 tonnes were also the lowest of the marketing year.
“Exports were poor, but it was a holiday, so not unexpected,” said Chuck Shelby, president of Risk Management Commodities.
The grains complex also saw pressure as stock markets retreated and some government bond yields climbed to their highest in years after the Federal Reserve signalled the possibility of faster-than-expected U.S. rate hikes and stimulus withdrawal.
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