BEIJING: Chicago corn futures rose for a second straight session on Thursday, supported by tightening global stocks, while soybeans gained on bargain-hunting after weak Chinese demand and a higher supply outlook drove prices lower in the previous session.
Wheat futures slipped for a fifth straight session amid a lack of bullish news, even as traders monitored freeze risks to wheat crops in the US Plains and Black Sea region.
The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) gained 0.27% to $10.31 a bushel by 0313 GMT, reversing two days of declines. The corn contract gained 0.05% to $4.90-4/8 a bushel, up for a second straight session. On Tuesday, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) kept US soybean and corn end-of-season supply forecasts unchanged, defying analysts’ expectations, while lowering Argentina’s corn and soybean production outlook due to adverse weather. Prices rose in a brief recovery rally following the USDA report, said Ole Houe at IKON Commodities in Sydney, adding that the rally will be short-lived. Argentina’s 2024-25 soybean crop is estimated at 47.5 million metric tons, while the corn crop outlook has been lowered to 46 million tons, down 4% from the previous forecast, according to the Rosario grains exchange. Heavy rains in Argentina’s key agricultural regions offered relief to soy and corn crops, the exchange said.
Global soybean supplies are expected to rise due to strong harvest in top supplier Brazil. Corn production is closely watched as global inventories for the 2024-25 season are expected to fall to their lowest in a decade on robust demand and a smaller-than-expected US harvest last year.
On Wednesday, the USDA confirmed private sales of 130,320 metric tons of US corn and 120,000 tons of US soybeans for shipment to unknown destinations in the 2024-25 marketing year. Wheat dropped 0.44% to $5.72 a bushel after some support from short-covering. Traders are monitoring cold fronts in the US Plains and Black Sea.
Snow could protect Midwest wheat, but dryness in the Southern Plains may stress hard red winter wheat. Commodity funds net bought corn on Wednesday, but net sold soybean, soyoil, soymeal and wheat futures.
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