Corn rebounds as US crop ratings decline; wheat gains

SINGAPORE: Chicago corn futures on Tuesday bounced back from losses in the previous session after a government report showed a decline in the condition of the US corn crop while the harvest got under way in the core Midwest production belt.

Wheat gained for the first time in six sessions, while soybeans inched higher.

"The USDA (US Department of Agriculture) reported another marginal decline in US corn crop conditions after the close of trading," said Tobin Gorey, director of agricultural strategy at Commonwealth Bank of Australia. "That decline will likely give some support for prices in early trading today."

The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) most-active corn contract was up 0.4% at $5.15-1/2 a bushel as of 0252 GMT. Soybeans rose 0.5% to $12.90-3/4 a bushel and wheat gained 0.5% to $6.90-1/2 a bushel.

The US corn harvest was 4% complete, the USDA said in a weekly progress report, compared with the five-year average of 5% for this time of year.

The agency rated 58% of the corn crop in good-to-excellent condition, down 1 percentage point from the previous week, while soybean ratings were unchanged at 57% good-to-excellent. Analysts surveyed by Reuters on average had expected no change for either crop.

Soybean futures were underpinned by recent exports, including a daily sales notice of 132,000 tonnes of soybeans to unknown destinations in the 2021/22 marketing year, the USDA said.

Still, weekly export shipments were muted by damaged terminals at the US Gulf after Hurricane Ida swept through the region in early September.

US wheat rises to 8-1/2-year highs on world supply worries

For the week ended Sept. 9, exporters shipped 138,189 tonnes of corn, down 50.34% from the prior week and 85.29% from the same week a year ago.

Soybean exporters shipped 105,368 tonnes of the oilseed, up 16.3% from the week before, but down 93.55% from the same period in 2020.

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