Chicago soybeans extend losses as US Midwest harvest expands

JAKARTA: Chicago soybeans fell for a second straight session on Tuesday as harvest activity picked up across the US Midwest following a spell of dry weather, while traders awaited the US Department of Agriculture’s weekly crop progress report due later in the day.

The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) declined 0.87% to $12.76-1/2 a bushel by 0325 GMT.

Basis bids for corn and soybeans shipped by barge to the US Gulf Coast declined on Monday as the Midwest harvest expanded following days of favourable dry weather, steering fresh grain supplies into marketing channels that feed the Gulf, traders said.

Wheat declined 0.78% to $6.67 a bushel.

Russian wheat export prices rose last week amid a firmer Black Sea market, while increased grain shipments helped halt a decline in domestic prices, analysts said.

IKAR, alocal consultancy, said it sees Russia’s 2026 grain crop at 137 million metric tons, down from 138 million tons in its previous forecast, including 88 million metric tons of wheat, down from 88.5 million tons.

The APK-Inform agriculture consultancy increased its 2026 Ukraine wheat harvest forecast to 25.5 million tons from 25 million tons, but cut grain export estimates by 6.5% to 31.7 million tons.

Corn also slipped 0.98% to $4.80-1/4 a bushel.

South Korean feedmaker Nonghyup Feed Inc (NOFI), South Korea’s Feed Leaders Committee (FLC) and Taiwan’s MFIG purchasing group all issued international tenders to buy animal feed corn, European traders said on Monday.