US grain and soyabean futures sank to multi-month lows on Monday on worries about the coronavirus pandemic denting the global economy and chilling end-user demand for commodities, traders said.
Corn futures notched the biggest decline, with the most-active Chicago Board of Trade contract sagging 2.5% to its lowest on a continuous basis since September.
CBOT soft red winter wheat futures hit their lowest since October and soyabean futures, which were off for the fourth trading day in a row and the seventh session out of the last eight, hit their lowest since May.
Agriculture futures were led lower by steep declines in financial markets. S&P 500 companies lost more than $2 trillion in value in the first few minutes of trading on Monday as investors panicked about the mounting damage from the coronavirus pandemic on the global economy.
At 10:21 a.m. CDT (1621 GMT), Chicago Board of Trade May soyabean futures were down 12-1/2 cents at $8.36-1/4 a bushel.
Soyameal and soyaoil futures also were weaker, with soyaoil plunging 2.3%. On a continuous basis, the most-active soyaoil futures contract fell to its lowest since October 2006.
The soya complex was fighting additional headwinds from a sharp decline in the crude oil market. Oilseed markets are sensitive to crude oil as the crops are widely used in biodiesel fuel.
US soyabeans, meanwhile, were also being curbed by an expected record harvest in Brazil. CBOT May corn was down 9 cents at $3.56-3/4 a bushel and CBOT May wheat was 12-1/4 cents lower at $4.93-3/4 a bushel. The US Agriculture Department on Monday morning said that weekly export inspections came in at 977,879 tonnes for corn, 449,653 tonnes for wheat and 436,358 tonnes for soyabeans. The weekly totals were in line with market forecasts.