Chicago | Reuters — U.S. corn futures rose to a nearly two-month high on Monday as traders fretted about disappointing weekend rains and dry conditions stressing crops in portions of the Midwest crop belt, analysts said.
Wheat futures followed, finding additional support from rising tensions in the Black Sea region. Soybean futures settled mixed, with nearby contracts falling on weak export demand and profit-taking, while back months clung to modest gains.
Chicago Board of Trade July corn settled up 13 cents at $6.17-1/4 per bushel after reaching $6.23-3/4, its highest since April 21 (all figures US$).
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CBOT July wheat ended up 3-1/2 cents at $6.33-3/4 a bushel. July soybeans finished down 13-3/4 cents at $13.72-3/4 a bushel while the November contract, representing the 2023 soy harvest, settled up 4-3/4 cents at $12.09.
Crop weather and dry soils in portions of the Midwest remained the focus. After the CBOT close, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) rated 61 per cent of the U.S. corn crop in good to excellent condition, down three percentage points from a week ago and below the average of estimates in a Reuters poll.
USDA also lowered its U.S. soybean crop rating by three percentage points to 59 per cent good to excellent, below the average analyst estimate of 60 per cent.
“During the weekend, hit-or-miss showers locally boosted topsoil moisture but left some areas still in need of rain,” USDA’s Office of the Chief Economist said in a daily crop weather note.
Wheat prices rose on worries about the Black Sea grain export corridor. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he is concerned that Russia will on July 17 quit a deal allowing the safe wartime export of grain and fertilizers from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports.
Meanwhile, traders monitored signs that Russia is imposing an unofficial minimum price for wheat exports. A supplier that sold 55,000 tonnes of Russian wheat to Egypt could look to source the grain from another country, an Egyptian minister said on Saturday amid confusion about a minimum price of $240 a tonne f.o.b. unofficially imposed by Russia.
The seller in Egypt’s tender last week had sold Russian wheat at $229 f.o.b., while all other Russian wheat was offered at $240.
“The impression is that Russian authorities did not grant a waiver for a lower price sale to Egypt so it looks like the $240 level is being imposed,” one grain trader said.
— Reporting for Reuters by Julie Ingwersen in Chicago; additional reporting by Michael Hogan in Hamburg and Matthew Chye in Singapore.
