CANBERRA: Chicago soybean futures inched higher on Monday, but remained close to multi-year lows after rains in key suppliers Brazil and Argentina suggested that supply will remain plentiful.
Corn and wheat prices fell, with both markets being well-supplied.
The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was up 0.1% at $12.10 a bushel by 0441 GMT after dipping to a two-week low of $12.07 earlier in the day.
Aside from a handful of sessions this month, prices have not been this low since November 2021.
Weighing on prices are upcoming large harvests from South America and weak demand for soy meal and oil, said Ole Houe at IKON Commodities in Sydney.
“Soybean prices are still on the high side for market that’s well-supplied,” he said.
The Buenos Aires Grains Exchange last week raised its estimate of Argentina’s soybean crop to 52.5 million metric tons, up about 1% from its previous forecast, and pegged the corn crop at 56.5 million tons, up nearly 3%.
Soybeans, corn pressured by South American supply prospects
Traders, meanwhile, say cash basis levels for Brazilian soybeans have been falling as market players gain confidence in the size of Brazil’s harvest.
A shrinking pig herd in top soybean importer China is also set to reduce its demand for feed.
Speculators have built their most bearish-ever January view across U.S. grains and oilseeds, and the collective net short is among the largest on record, driven by further selling in soybeans and meal last week.
CBOT corn was down 0.2% at $4.45-1/2 a bushel.
Prices are near a three-year low of $4.37 that was reached on Jan. 18 following a record U.S. harvest and crop-boosting rains in South America.
Wheat fell 0.6% to $5.96-1/2 a bushel.
More ships carrying grain were diverted from the Suez Canal to routes around the Cape of Good Hope this week after attacks on vessels in the Red Sea, shipping analysts said. About 7 million metric tons of grain cargoes normally transit the Suez Canal into the Red Sea each month.
Egypt will import about 7 million tons of wheat in 2024, the supply minister said.
Chinese customs authorities have included Argentine companies in its list of those approved to export wheat to China for the first time, the Argentine government said.
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