SINGAPORE: Chicago soybean futures fell more than 1% on Monday after six straight sessions of gains, although forecasts of hot and dry weather in parts of the US Midwest raised supply concerns and curbed losses.
Wheat slid for a second consecutive session, while corn lost ground.
The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was down 1.1% at $14.53 a bushel, as of 0313 GMT, but not far from Friday’s four-week high of $14.89 a bushel.
Wheat lost 0.3% to $8.05-1/4 a bushel and corn eased 0.9% to $6.14-3/4 a bushel.
Despite recent rains and below-normal temperatures across parts of the US Midwest, forecasts are pointing to hot and dry weather in early August, raising concerns for soybean crops during their crucial pod development, as well as for late-planted corn still pollinating.
US exporters reported the sale of 132,000 tonnes of soybeans for delivery to unknown destinations during the 2022/2023 marketing year, the US Department of Agriculture reported on Friday.
The condition of France’s maize crop deteriorated sharply for a second consecutive week, data from farm office FranceAgriMer showed, in a sign that dry weather in the European Union’s biggest grain maize producer is taking a toll.
An estimated 68% of the grain maize crop was in good or excellent condition in the week ended July 25, down from 75% the previous week, 83% in the week ended July 11 and 84% in the week to July 4, FranceAgriMer said in a cereal report.
Soybeans jump over 1% to two-week high as US crop faces heat
The wheat market is focussed on Ukraine’s grain exports through the Black Sea.
Ukraine’s president visited a Black Sea port on Friday to show his country is ready to start exporting grain under a U.N.-brokered deal aimed at easing global food shortages, and said Kyiv was awaiting the signal for the first shipment.
On a rare trip out of Kyiv since Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy denounced a Russian Black Sea blockade that has prevented Ukraine from exporting grain, contributing to a sharp rise in global grain prices.
China’s securities regulator has approved trading of soybean and soyoil options on the Dalian Commodity Exchange, it said on Friday.
Commodity funds were net buyers of CBOT soybeans, soyoil, corn and soymeal futures contracts on Friday and net sellers of CBOT wheat futures contracts, traders said.
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