Corn firm ahead of USDA sowings estimates, soybeans fall

• Wheat was little changed with the market set for a second quarter of gains as export curbs by top suppliers and higher demand from importers underpinned prices.
• Wheat was down 0.09 percent at $5.69 a bushel. Soybeans were down 0.3pc at $8.79-1/2 a bushel.

HAMBURG: Chicago corn rose and soybeans fell on Tuesday before new planting estimates from the US Department of Agriculture but the market remained depressed overall due to economic turmoil caused by the coronavirus.

Wheat was little changed with the market set for a second quarter of gains as export curbs by top suppliers and higher demand from importers underpinned prices.

Chicago Board Of Trade most-active corn was up 0.2pc at $3.42 a bushel at 1054 GMT.

Corn has dropped nearly 12pc this quarter as the coronavirus crisis hit, poised for the biggest three-month loss since September 2014.

Wheat was down 0.09 percent at $5.69 a bushel. Soybeans were down 0.3pc at $8.79-1/2 a bushel.

"Wheat remains supported by the export restrictions being considered or imposed by several big supply countries including Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan," said Carlos Mera Arzeno, senior commodity analyst at Rabobank, adding that restrictions by those countries were aimed at preventing domestic bread price rises.

Russia's economy ministry said on Monday it supported a proposal by the agriculture ministry to limit Russian grain exports to 7 million tonnes in April-June.

"Wheat demand will remain strong in the near future." Arzeno said. "Panic buying of food by the public is starting to fade in parts of Europe but there are still some regions such as Africa, Latin America and parts of Asia which have not yet felt the full impact of the coronavirus crisis and may adopt protectionist measures and see stock piling by consumers and flour mills."

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has told the authorities to boost strategic reserves of staple goods, as global concerns about food security rise.

The USDA will at 1600 GMT on Tuesday issue two closely-watched reports estimating prospective US plantings and inventories, especially whether US farmers have decided to plant corn or soybeans.

Analysts polled by Reuters expect the report to show US corn and soybean plantings above last year's weather-reduced acreage and tighter year-on-year stocks of grain.

Germany's Commerzbank said the USDA's estimates would be based on surveys of farmers in past weeks when prices began to be heavily disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, making it difficult to assess whether corn or soybeans were looking most attractively-priced to US farmers at the time surveyed.

"One can hardly talk of attractive prices in any case given that both product prices are currently trading at close to their lowest levels for the season in over a decade," the bank said.