Wednesday, 29 July 2015 00:20
PARIS/SINGAPORE: Chicago corn futures slid for a third consecutive session on Tuesday to a one-month low with pressure from ideal weather across the US Midwest that is boosting crop development.
Wheat rose following a drop to one-month lows on Monday while soybeans firmed after shedding nearly 6 percent over the
last three sessions.
“The weather conditions in the key corn-growing areas of the US Midwest have improved considerably of late, following the excessive rainfall earlier in the summer,” Commerzbank said.
“At the same time, short-term-oriented market participants (…) now appear to be closing their positions in grand style. Both of these factors are weighing heavily on the corn price in Chicago,” it added.
Chicago Board of Trade front-month corn slid 0.3 percent to $ 3.72 a bushel by 1110 GMT, after touching 3.71-1/2, its lowest level since June 25.
Forecasts are for scattered showers in the US grain belt over the next 10 days. Excessive rain had raised concerns about crop development, with corn rallying 18 percent in June.
August soybeans gained 0.9 percent to $ 9.70-1/4 a bushel, September wheat added 1.0 percent to $ 5.07-3/4.
The condition of US corn improved slightly last week with 70 percent of the crop rated good to excellent as compared with 69 percent the week before, although it was still well below the 75 percent seen a year ago, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said after the market closed on Monday.
For soybeans, the USDA said 62 percent of the crop was in good to excellent condition, same as last week but below the previous year’s 71 percent.
Farmers remained on the sidelines during the futures sell-off, delaying sales of existing supplies and what they intended to harvest this autumn in the hope that prices will rebound.
In wheat, the USDA said 85 percent of the winter wheat crop has been harvested, up from 75 percent a week ago and higher than an 80 percent average of the last five years.
Ukraine’s sea grain exports, which account for nearly all shipments, are likely to fall by 5 percent this season to 32.8 million tonnes from a record 34.6 million tonnes a season earlier, analyst UkrAgroConsult said on Tuesday.
But Egypt, the world’s largest wheat importer, could import less than 4 million tonnes of the grain in 2015-16, around 600,000 tonnes less than in 2014-15, the supplies minister told Reuters on Monday, due to a new subsidised bread distribution system that has cut the smuggling of wheat.
