Soybeans at 2-week low, corn eases for 3rd session on US weather

SINGAPORE: Chicago soybeans dropped on Monday to their lowest in two weeks while corn slid for a third consecutive session, as forecasts of wet weather in parts of the US Midwest and slowing demand in top buyer China weighed on the prices.

Wheat lost more ground.

"The market continues to worry about the cancellation of some US corn cargoes to China," Tobin Gorey, director of agricultural strategy at Commonwealth Bank of Australia said.

"Also weighing was weather models' wetter projection for the north west of the US Midwest."

CBOT soybeans may retest support at $13.42

The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board Of Trade (CBOT) was down 1.4% at $13.33-1/4 a bushel, as of 0354 GMT, near the session low of $13.33 a bushel, the weakest since July 12. Corn lost 0.9% to $5.38 a bushel and wheat dropped 1.1% to $6.76-3/4 a bushel.

The US Agriculture Department said net export sales of corn totalled -40,800 tonnes in the week ended July 15, largely due to cancellations from China.

Weather models indicate cooler weather across key US growing regions, aiding soybean and corn crops.

China's soybean imports are set to slow sharply in late 2021 from a record first-half tally, confounding expectations for sustained growth from the top global buyer and denting market sentiment just as US farmers look to sell their new crop.

Russia's agriculture ministry said yields from the harvest of the country's wheat crop averaged 3.45 tonnes per hectare as of July 20, down from 3.47 tonnes a year earlier.

Large speculators raised their net long position in CBOT corn futures in the week ended July 20, regulatory data released on Friday showed.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's weekly commitments of traders report also showed that non-commercial traders, a category that includes hedge funds, trimmed their net short position in CBOT wheat and raised their net long position in soybeans.