Soybeans rise on dry Brazilian weather; corn and wheat down

SINGAPORE/PARIS: Chicago soybean futures rose on Wednesday, supported by a lack of rain in top producer Brazil, though gains were capped by rapid progress with the US harvest.

Corn and wheat futures, meanwhile, lost ground.

"US harvesting of soybeans and corn is progressing well, but Brazilian weather is key for prices," said one Singapore-based trader at an international trading company.

The most active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade gained 0.5pc to $10.48-3/4 a bushel by 1115 GMT.

Corn dropped 0.3pc to $3.90-1/4 a bushel while wheat lost 0.3pc to $5.90-1/4 a bushel.

Rains that were forecast to blanket a wide portion of Brazil from Oct. 10 have arrived in a patchy fashion and will not be sufficient for the nation's 2020/21 soy planting cycle to advance considerably, meteorologists and industry experts told Reuters.

"Traders will be monitoring Brazilian rainfall this week as well as overnight export sales," broker Allendale said in a note.

The US corn harvest was 41pc complete on Sunday, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said in a weekly crop progress report on Tuesday.

That was above the five-year average of 32pc and an average estimate of 39pc in a Reuters poll of analysts.

The soybean crop was 61pc harvested, the USDA said, well ahead of the five-year average of 42pc and slightly ahead of the average analyst estimate of 59pc.

Argentina's Federation of Oilseeds Workers started an open-ended wage strike on Tuesday, the labour group said, with no sign yet of government intervention that would force members back to work while new contract talks are held.

In Europe, FranceAgriMer on Wednesday raised its monthly forecast for French soft wheat exports outside the European Union in the current 2020/21 season by 100,000 tonnes to 6.7 million tonnes, still 50pc below last season.