NEW YORK: Chicago wheat, corn and soyabean futures fell on Tuesday, giving back some gains from recent rallies as the US Department of Agriculture gave an assessment of crop conditions that analysts viewed as favorable.
The Chicago Board of Trade's most-active soyabean contract was down 3-3/4 cents at $8.61-1.2 a bushel by 10:45 a.m. (1545 GMT).
Corn fell 5-1/4 cents to $3.28-1/2 a bushel, and wheat slid 7-3/4 cents to $5.03-3/4 a bushel.
"It's not unexpected today, when you look at the factors of weather and where this crop is," said Chuck Shelby, president of Risk Management Commodities.
The USDA's weekly crop conditions report, issued after the market close on Monday, rated 75% of the US corn crop as good to excellent, up from 74% last week and aligned with average analyst estimates in a Reuters poll.
For soyabeans, the USDA rated 72% of the crop as good to excellent, up from 70% last week, and 82% of US spring wheat as good to excellent, above analyst expectations of 80%.
Some 7% of US winter wheat was harvested, up from 3% last week, with 51% of the crop in good to excellent condition, slightly better than analyst expectations of 50%.
Weather forecasts for much of the Midwest indicate heavy rains in the coming week as tropical depression Cristobal pushes moisture up the Mississippi River Valley, followed by hot, dry weather, which should support crop conditions moving into July, analysts said.