Soybeans drop to one-week low, corn down for third session

SINGAPORE: Chicago soybean futures dropped on Thursday to their lowest in more than a week after a US government report earlier this week failed to add bullish momentum to prices already hovering near multi-year highs.

Corn slid for a third consecutive session while wheat ticked higher after Wednesday's drop.

Expectations of an improvement in North American weather weighed on the markets.

"Evidence has been accumulating that the current La Nina is now dissipating faster," said Tobin Gorey of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. "That makes a dry planting window in North America considerably less likely."

The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board Of Trade (CBOT) lost 0.5% to $14.03 a bushel by 0320 GMT, near the session low of $14.00-3/4 a bushel - the weakest since March 3.

Corn was down 0.1% at $5.33-1/4 a bushel, having closed down 2.1% in the previous session, and wheat climbed 0.2% to $6.53-3/4 a bushel, having closed down 0.6% on Wednesday.

Argentina's Rosario Grains Exchange on Wednesday cut its estimate of the country's 2020/21 soybean harvest to 45 million tonnes from 49 million tonnes previously, citing dry weather.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Tuesday trimmed its Argentine soy crop estimate to 47.5 million tonnes from 48 million tonnes last month, but it raised its estimate of Brazil's soy harvest to 134 million tonnes from 133 million tonnes.

However, the USDA raised its forecast of global ending stocks of both corn and soybeans, bucking trade expectations for a reduction.

FranceAgriMer raised its monthly forecast of soft wheat stocks for the end of the 2020/21 season by more than 100,000 tonnes to 2.7 million tonnes on Wednesday.

Commodity funds were net sellers of Chicago Board of Trade corn, soybean, soymeal, wheat and soyoil futures contracts on Wednesday, traders said.