PARIS/SINGAPORE: Chicago corn, wheat and soybean futures eased on Tuesday to hold near multi-month lows, as improved US crop ratings kept attention on favourable Midwest weather, underscoring the prospect of ample global supply.
Three-month lows for crude oil, following the announcement of an outline deal to end the Iran war, also weighed, though traders were watching to see if price weakness could spur more demand from grain importers.
The US Department of Agriculture rated 68 percent of the nation’s corn and 66 percent of soybeans in good-to-excellent condition, each up one percentage point from a week earlier. Spring wheat was rated 55 percent good-to-excellent, up three percentage points from last week.
Ratings for the drought-affected winter wheat crop remained near historical lows, but the weekly score rose while harvest progress was faster than anticipated by analysts.
Widespread rain and warm weather have benefitted crops across the central United States in the past week, reinforcing market expectations of adequate global supply of major crops.
“Grain seasonals are bearish, recent fund selling points towards more downside, and US weather forecasts look great,” Peak Trading Research said in a note.
The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) (Sv1) fell 0.8 percent to USD11.10 a bushel by 1004 GMT, CBOT corn lost 0.5 percent to USD4.13-1/2 a bushel and CBOT wheat ticked down 0.3 percent to USD5.88-1/4 a bushel.
On Monday, corn hit a nine-month low, soybeans a four-month low and wheat a two-month low, before all three crops ended higher.
After financial investors sharply reduced long positions since last month, traders were watching to see if the markets could find a footing pending further direction from Northern Hemisphere wheat harvesting and US planting data at the end of the month.
Algeria has issued a tender to buy wheat for August shipment, traders said on Monday.
In the US, the National Oilseed Processors Association said its members crushed 208.785 million bushels of soybeans in May, down 1.4 percent from April and below nearly all trade estimates.
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