Soyabeans down

US soyabean futures hit a two-month low early on Thursday, pressured by rising government forecasts for a record-large Brazilian soya harvest, traders said. Corn and wheat followed soyabeans lower. At 12:42 pm CST (1842 GMT), the Chicago Board of Trade May soyabean futures contract was down 14-1/4 cents at $10.07-1/2 per bushel after dipping to $10.06-1/4, its lowest since January 10.
CBOT May corn was down 5-3/4 cents at $3.66-1/2 a bushel and May wheat was down 3-1/2 cents at $4.43-1/2 a bushel. Soyabeans fell after the US Department of Agriculture in a monthly supply/demand report hiked its forecast of Brazil's 2016/17 soyabean harvest to a record 108 million tonnes, from 104 million in February.
The USDA also cut its estimate of US 2016/17 soyabean exports, citing competition from the big Brazilian harvest, and consequently raised its forecast of US soya ending stocks to 435 million bushels, above an average of analyst estimates. "USDA finally recognised that second-half US exports are not going to be as large as what they were hoping because of larger and larger South American crops," said Terry Reilly, senior commodities analyst at Futures International.
The USDA's moves came hours after Brazil's agricultural statistics agency, Conab, raised its estimate of the country's soya crop to 107.6 million tonnes, up from 105.5 million tonnes previously. CBOT corn futures fell as both Conab and the USDA raised their estimates for Brazil's 2016/17 corn production. The USDA also raised its forecast of global 2016/17 corn ending stocks to 220.68 million tonnes, above an average of trade expectations and up from 217.56 million last month. Wheat futures found underlying support after the USDA trimmed its forecast of US 2016/17 wheat ending stocks to 1.129 billion bushels, down 10 million from last month. But forecasts calling for much-needed moisture in the Plains kept a lid on rallies.