PARIS/SINGAPORE: Chicago soybean futures rose for a fifth consecutive session on Monday to hit a one-year high as weather forecasts suggested little rain relief for parched crop belts in Argentina, the world’s third-largest soybean exporter.
Wheat added over 1 percent to reach its highest in almost seven months as dry conditions in the US Plains and severe cold in Europe also fuelled weather worries.
Corn was steady, tracking the other crops and finding background support from a lower dollar.
The Chicago Board Of Trade most-active soybean contract had climbed 0.7 percent to $10.55 a bushel by 1253 GMT. It earlier touched $10.55-1/2, a high since Feb. 28 last year.
Investors were continuing to assess the scale of drought losses to Argentina’s upcoming harvest and to what extent the damage will be offset by an expected record crop in Brazil.
“Argentina’s dryness has been the big story in the soybean market, but record Brazilian supplies should compensate for some of the supply losses,” said Phin Ziebell, an agribusiness economist for National Australia Bank.
Argentina, which is also the world’s biggest supplier of soyoil and soymeal, has been grappling with dry weather since late last year. The effects are becoming apparent as crops are in the sensitive yield-formation stages.
“Argentina corn and soybean yields (are) likely to tumble further as weather forecasts show more heat and dryness,” Thomson Reuters Agriculture Research analysts said in a note.
Brazilian soybean farmers are expected to harvest a record 117.5 million tonnes of soybeans in the 2017/18 crop cycle, a top executive at Brazil-based consultancy Agroconsult said on Friday.
Rain has hampered early harvesting in Brazil but analysts do not see the crop being damaged for now.
Weather worries were also building up in the wheat market, with weather forecasts turning dry again in the US Plains and intense cold across Europe raising concern of frost damage.
CBOT wheat gained 1.4 percent to $4.70-1/2 a bushel, after climbing earlier in the session to $4.71, its highest since Aug. 1. In Europe, May milling wheat hit a new six-week high at 165.00 euros ($203.40) a tonne.
US corn was up 0.5 percent at $3.68 a bushel.
Russian grain belts facing the most extreme cold were expected to be protected by snow cover, but parts of Ukraine and Poland were seen as vulnerable, analysts said.
Source: Brecorder.com
