SINGAPORE: Chicago soybeans lost more ground on Wednesday, trading close to previous session’s three-week low, while corn was listless with both markets under pressure after a US government report showed crop suffered less-than-expected damage.
Wheat futures eased after closing higher on Tuesday with tightening global supplies supporting prices.
The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) lost 0.3% to $13.43-1/4 a bushel, as of 0238 GMT, not far from a three-week low of $13.40-3/4 hit on Tuesday.
Corn was unmoved at $4.76-1/2 a bushel after hitting $4.74 on Tuesday, equalling last month’s 32-month low, while wheat gave up 0.2% to $5.86-1/4 a bushel.
The US Agriculture Department (USDA) in its monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report projected a US soybean harvest of 4.146 billion bushels and an average yield of 50.1 bushels an acre.
The prediction was a downgrade from a month earlier and will help push domestic supplies to their lowest in eight years, but it was a smaller downgrade than traders had expected.
Meanwhile, oilseed group Abiove said Brazil’s soybean exports should reach 99 million metric tons in 2023, 500,000 more than it projected a month ago, amid a record Brazilian harvest.
On the import side, China’s agriculture ministry raised its estimate for corn imports in the 2022/23 crop year ending this month by 500,000 metric tons from last month’s estimate to 18.5 million tons.
The ministry also raised the 2022/23 soybean import estimates by 4.66 million tons from August to 99.86 million metric tons, the Chinese Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (CASDE) said.
For corn, the USDA lifted its forecast for US production to 15.134 billion bushels - the second-biggest US harvest on record - with average yields of 173.8 bushels an acre.
Higher US supply will add to an ample global stockpile resulting from a massive crop in Brazil.
For wheat, prices fell to a 33-month low on Tuesday, with the market awash with cheap Russian grain, but prices rebounded after the USDA forecast lower-than-expected world stocks.
Commodity funds were net sellers of CBOT soybean, corn, soymeal and soyoil futures contracts on Tuesday, traders said. Funds were net buyers of CBOT wheat futures, they said.