Chicago soybean futures rose on Wednesday as the U.S. dollar eased from 11-month highs, but prices remained near their lowest since 2021 amid signs of a better-than-expected U.S. harvest and rapid planting of crops in Brazil.
Corn prices also gained but wheat fell.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Most-active Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) soybean futures were up 0.5% at $12.79 a bushel by 0054 GMT. CBOT corn rose 0.3% to $4.88-3/4 a bushel and wheat was down 0.2% at $5.67-1/2 a bushel.
* Soybeans have fallen around 9% in the last five weeks and slipped to $12.57 on Tuesday, equalling the 18-month low seen in June.
* Helping push soybeans lower has been a stronger U.S. dollar, which makes dollar-priced beans more expensive for buyers with other currencies and can reduce demand.
* The U.S. harvest is well underway, adding supply to the market, and government data this week showed a slight improvement in bean condition ratings.
* Commodity broker StoneX raised its forecast for the average U.S. soybean yield to 50.4 bushels an acre from 50.1 an acre, estimating U.S. production at 4.175 billion bushels.
* While private sales of 265,000 metric tons of U.S. soybeans to China suggested there are buyers in the market, basis values for soybeans shipped by barge to the U.S. Gulf Coast and loaded for export were steady to lower on Tuesday.
* Meanwhile, a report on Monday showed farmers in Brazil, the world’s biggest soybean producer, were planting new crops at the fastest pace on record.
* Brazil is forecast to produce a record soybean crop this year.
* European Union soybean imports so far in the 2023/24 season that started in July were 2.85 million metric tons by Oct. 1, down 2% from a year earlier, data showed.
* Commodity funds were net sellers of Chicago soybeans, soymeal, corn, and soyoil futures and net buyers of wheat on Tuesday, traders said.
* Moving to wheat, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported a Chinese purchase of 220,000 metric tons of U.S. soft red winter wheat — the first by China of that class of wheat from the U.S. since July 2021.
* However, wheat prices fell to a three-year low of $5.40 a bushel on Friday with the market flush with cheap exports from Russia.
* Ukraine on Tuesday said it hopes to speed up exports of grain and other farm products under a wartime deal that will shift some border checks from its busy frontier with Poland to the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda.
* Two more vessels are heading towards the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odesa, a Ukrainian lawmaker said.
* The EU’s soft wheat exports since the start of the 2023/24 season in July reached 7.39 million metric tons by Oct. 1, down 24% from a year earlier, data showed.
* Morocco is expected to buy 2.5 million tonnes, or half of its soft wheat needs, from France this season ending June 2024, the Maghreb region head at French wheat professionals group Intercereales said. – Reuters
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