Corn, soybeans ease ahead of US acreage report

SINGAPORE/PARIS: Chicago corn and soybean futures eased on Wednesday as traders adjusted positions ahead of a US government report on stock and acreage.

Wheat futures slid on expectations of higher output in Russia, the world's biggest exporter.

"Weather forecasters, wrangling the weather models' somewhat erratic projections of late, are evolving a clearer view of July weather," said Tobin Gorey, director of agricultural strategy at Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

"The Midwest's north-west remains a region of concern as a dry starting point will likely see further crop stress evolve over a warm July."

The most-active corn contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) fell 1.8% to $5.38-3/4 a bushel by 1115 GMT while soybeans fell 0.6% to $13.04-3/4 a bushel.

"The price levels for the 2021 crop have logically favoured the increase in the area sown of these two crops. Tonight's publication should validate this hypothesis and highlight the level of this increase," French consultancy Agritel said.

Wheat lost 0.5% at $6.42-3/4 a bushel.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Wednesday is expected to increase its estimate for corn plantings by about 3% from March, according to a Reuters poll of analysts. Soybean plantings are seen up 1.5% from March.

Fears remain about the risk from hot and dry weather as grain stocks are slim.

Analysts expect the USDA on Wednesday to report that corn and soybean inventories on June 1 were down 17% and 43%, respectively, from a year earlier.

The USDA, in a weekly report on Monday, rated 64% of the US corn crop in good-to-excellent condition, down 1 percentage point from the prior week and below analysts' expectations. Just 20% of spring wheat was rated good-to-excellent, below a week earlier and analysts' expectations.

Russian agriculture consultancy IKAR said on Tuesday it had raised its 2021 forecast for wheat production to 83.6 million tonnes from 82 million tonnes.

It also said it sees Russia's exports of wheat at 39 million tonnes this year.

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