CHICAGO: Chicago corn and soybean futures turned lower on Tuesday as US farmers raced to plant their fields and investors bemoaned a lack of fresh news over the US-China trade war, traders said.
Corn futures saw some support from the Trump administration issuing an emergency waiver to allow the sale of a higher-ethanol gasoline blend to be sold this summer nationwide, saying it will add to fuel supply during the peak US driving season and bring down costs.
But the fact that the US government didn’t announce any new biofuel subsidies weighed on soyoil and soybean futures, market analysts said. Corn and soybean markets also were pressured from favourable crop weather in South America.
Recent showers have eased drought conditions that threatened Brazil’s safrinha corn crop, while a dry spell in Argentina is set to help corn and soybean harvesting after heavy rain.
“We’re extracting weather premium from this market,” said Dan Basse, president of AgResource Co. Meanwhile, Chicago wheat futures were steady to slightly lower after a sharp fall on Monday, on a lack of news and timely rainfall for US crops.
Market participants also were monitoring how a cold spell in Russia may be impacting the wheat crop, though a recovery in Russian export volumes this month and US-led efforts to end Russia’s war with Ukraine were tempering supply concerns, traders said.
The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was down 0.33% at $5.29-1/4 a bushel at 1426 GMT, within Monday’s trading range.
CBOT’s most-active corn contract was down 1.6% at $4.75-1/2 a bushel, dropping earlier in the session to $4.73 a bushel - the lowest price seen since April 10. And CBOT soybeans were down 1.27% at $10.49 a bushel, having dipped at one point to a one-week low of $10.47-1/2 a bushel.
Grain traders are continuing to monitor developments in US tariff policy, and some said they were disappointed that a trade stand-off with top soybean importer China continued to cloud US export prospects.
Traders also focused on the pace of US planting. US farmers had planted 24% of the corn crop as of Sunday, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said in a weekly report released after Monday’s market close - one percentage point behind analysts’ average estimate but ahead of the five-year average of 22%.
USDA said the soybean crop was 18% planted, ahead of both the five-year average of 12% and analysts’ average estimate of 17%.
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