Soybeans down for second day on better Argentine weather

SINGAPORE: Chicago soybeans slid for a second session on Thursday as rains in parts of parched Argentina boosted expectations of supplies from the world's biggest exporter of soyoil and soymeal.

Corn slid after closing higher, while wheat lost more ground.

"Rains in Argentina are easing some of the supply concerns," said Phin Ziebell, agribusiness economist at National Australia Bank in Melbourne. "In the medium term, there is not much downside risk with higher oil prices."

The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) lost 0.3% to $14.14 a bushel as of 0311 GMT.

Corn gave up 0.5% to $5.55-1/2 a bushel and wheat lost 0.3% to $6.38 a bushel.

Rain storms this week in Argentina's Pampas farm belt have slowed the deterioration of many drought-hit soybean and corn fields, crop weather specialists said on Wednesday.

Dryness has blighted Pampas since mid-2020, prompting the Buenos Aires Grains Exchange last week to cut its soy and corn harvest estimates. Soy and corn are Argentina's main cash crops.

However, global oil prices and have climbed around 30% this year, underpinning values in agricultural products.

Wheat futures are under pressure from expectations of higher production in the world's top exporter Russia.

Russian Sovecon agriculture consultancy said on Wednesday that it had raised its forecast for Russia's 2021 wheat crop to 79.3 million tonnes from the previously expected 76.2 million tonnes.

The USDA has confirmed 2.38 million tonnes in US old-crop corn sales to China over the past two days. The department is due to release weekly export sales data early on Thursday.

Commodity funds were net buyers of CBOT corn futures contracts on Wednesday and net sellers of wheat, soybeans, soymeal and soyoil, traders said.