SINGAPORE: Chicago soybean futures firmed on Thursday, with prices rising for the first time in three sessions, although harvest of a record Brazilian crop and expectations of higher interest rates are likely to keep gains in check.
Wheat firmed after dropping earlier in the session to its lowest in almost one week, while corn ticked lower. “The soybean market is going to be amply supplied over the next several months as Brazilian harvest gathers pace,” a Singapore-based trader said.
The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) added 0.1% to $15.27 a bushel, as of 0348 GMT.
Wheat gained 0.3% to $7.82-3/4 a bushel while corn lost 0.1% to $6.75-3/4 a bushel. The Brazilian soybean harvest was 17% complete, agribusiness consultancy AgRural said on Monday, while Scoville noted that progress was more advanced in Mato Grosso, Brazil’s biggest soybean state.
A stronger dollar, which makes greenback-priced commodities expensive for buyers holding other currencies, weighed on the agricultural markets.
The dollar advanced after strong US retail sales data underpinned the resilience of the world’s largest economy, cementing the case that the Federal Reserve still has further to go in tightening rates. Uncertainty about risks to Black Sea grain supplies from the war in Ukraine curbed losses in wheat and corn markets.
Soybeans extend losses as record Brazilian crop weighs
Ukraine appealed on Wednesday to the United Nations and Turkey to press Russia to immediately stop hindering Ukrainian grain shipments that supply millions of people and not to use the food as a weapon.
Farm office FranceAgriMer on Wednesday lowered its outlook for French soft wheat exports this season because of competition from Black Sea supplies, but made a sharp upward revision to its barley export forecast after a wave of shipments to China.
The US soybean crush rose in January for the first time in three months while soyoil stocks increased for a fourth straight month, although both gains were smaller than expected, according to National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA) data released on Wednesday.
NOPA members, which account for around 95% of soybeans processed in the United States, crushed 179.007 million bushels of soybeans last month, up 0.8% from the 177.505 million bushels processed in December but down 1.8% from the January 2022 crush of 182.216 million bushels.
Commodity funds were net sellers of CBOT wheat, corn, soybean and soymeal futures contracts on Wednesday and net buyers of soyoil futures, traders said.