SINGAPORE: Chicago corn and soybeans slid on Wednesday, as expectations of favourable crop weather in much of the US Midwest raised hopes for bumper harvests, adding pressure on prices. Wheat eased, after climbing to a one week high, on pressure from the ongoing Northern Hemisphere harvest.
“Corn prices are down as strong US crop ratings and generally favourable weather will continue to put pressure on prices,” said one agricultural broker. The most-active corn contract on the Chicago Board of Traded (CBOT) fell 0.9% to $4.18-1/4 a bushel, as of 0351 GMT, and soybeans lost 0.2% to $10.25-1/4 a bushel.
Wheat dipped 0.3% to $5.47-1/2 a bushel, having climbed to its highest since June 25 earlier in the session. For corn, traders remain focused on US Midwest weather as warm temperatures and timely rains have boosted yield prospects as the crop is entering its critical pollination stage of development.
Good crop weather this spring allowed US farmers to stick to their seeding plans as the US Department of Agriculture reported only slight changes to planted area in its closely followed acreage report on Monday.
The agency surprised the market with stronger-than-anticipated corn crop conditions that were the best since 2018 for this point in the growing season. The USDA left soy crop conditions unchanged at the second-highest level in the past five seasons.
The wheat market was underpinned earlier in the day by short-covering and bargain-buying after last week’s deep losses, with prices trading close to multi-year lows reached in May.
But freshly harvested crops in key exporting countries, including Russia and the United States are entering the market, curbing the upside potential.
In news, Ukraine’s agricultural exports fell by 23.8% to 3.4 million metric tons in June, mostly due to smaller shipments of grains and vegetable oils, farm lobby UCAB said on Tuesday.
Commodity funds were net buyers of CBOT corn, wheat soybean and soyoil futures contracts on Tuesday and net sellers of soymeal, traders said. Fund estimates for corn ranged from net selling of 5,000 contracts to net buying of 13,000 contracts.
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