Chicago | Reuters — Benchmark U.S. corn futures fell on Thursday to their lowest in 19 months, pressured by disappointing export data and prospects for big U.S. crops, analysts said.
Soybean futures hit a 10-month low, and wheat futures slipped more than two per cent as an extension of a deal to allow war-ravaged Ukraine to continue exporting grains through Black Sea ports eased concerns over world supplies.
Chicago Board of Trade July corn settled down 6-1/4 cents at $5.55-1/4 per bushel after dipping to $5.47, the lowest on a continuous chart of the most-active corn contract since October 2021 (all figures US$). But new-crop December corn, representing the 2023 harvest, ended up 1-3/4 cents at $5.00-3/4, bouncing after falling below $5 this week for the first time since late 2021.
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture lowered its U.S. corn supply forecast in a monthly supply-and-demand report on Friday and raised its outlook for U.S. exports of the grain this season to a record high following a strong pace of overseas shipments.
CBOT July soybeans settled down 3-3/4 cents at $13.33-1/4 per bushel after falling to $13.23-1/4, the lowest on a continuous chart since July 2022. CBOT July wheat finished down 13-3/4 cents at $6.11-3/4 a bushel.
Corn futures fell to session lows after the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s weekly export sales report showed net sales reductions of U.S. old-crop corn in the week to May 11 totalling nearly 339,000 tonnes, largely due to cancellations from Chinese buyers. Net sales of new-crop corn totalled 74,000 tonnes.
“Corn and soybean prices continue to add to their recent losses amid weak export sales demand. The bears have the momentum, and there’s simply not a story out there currently to change the narrative,” StoneX chief commodities economist Arlan Suderman wrote in a client note.
Meanwhile, the International Grains Council raised its forecast for 2023-24 global corn crop by nine million tonnes to 1.217 billion tonnes, largely reflecting improved outlooks for production in Brazil and China.
Wheat futures sagged despite poor harvest projections from this week’s annual crop tour of Kansas, the top U.S. winter wheat producer. In its final estimate released on Thursday, the Wheat Quality Council tour estimated the average Kansas wheat yield at 30.0 bushels per acre, the tour’s lowest since at least 2000.
— Reporting for Reuters by Julie Ingwersen in Chicago; additional reporting by Nigel Hunt in London and Naveen Thukral in Singapore.
