SINGAPORE: Chicago soybean futures edged higher on Tuesday, with short-covering supporting prices, although expectations of bumper production in South America curbed gains.
Corn prices rose on support from lower Brazilian crop outlook, and wheat firmed as well. The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was up 0.2% at $12.26-1/4 a bushel, as of 0238 GMT, having gained almost 1% on Monday.
Wheat rose 0.2% to $5.97-1/2 a bushel and corn edged 0.1% higher to $4.46 a bushel. “Soybean prices are firming after hitting lows last week,” said one Singapore-based oilseed trader. “There is some buying interest at these levels from investors.”
Commodity funds were net buyers of CBOT soybean, soyoil, wheat and corn futures contracts on Monday and net sellers of soymeal futures, traders said.
On Monday, gains in US crude oil futures lent support to the soybean complex due to soyoil’s role as a feedstock for biofuel. Soybeans’ rally is being capped, however, by forecasts of record supplies from South America’s top producers, including Brazil and Argentina. Brazil’s 2023/24 soybean harvest had reached 6% of the planted area, as of last Thursday, agribusiness consultancy AgRural said on Monday, up 3.7 percentage points from the previous week and above the 1.8% seen in the year-ago period.
China’s soybean imports from Brazil in 2023 jumped 29% from the prior year, customs data showed on Saturday, expanding the South American grower’s dominance in the world’s largest soybean market and eating into the US market share.
Forecasters expect lower production from Brazil’s second corn crop because of smaller planted area, lower investment by farmers and the intense El Niño weather pattern, which brought drought to central Brazil and excess rains to the south.
Russian wheat export prices continued to decline last week following a drop in global markets, while shipments also fell amidst challenging weather conditions, analysts said.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.