Chicago | Reuters—Chicago soybean and corn futures settled lower on Tuesday as brisk U.S. harvest progress and forecasts for rain in drought-hit Brazilian crop belts bolstered expectations of abundant global supplies, traders said.
Wheat edged up as support from overly dry weather in major wheat-growing areas countered recent dollar strength. A stronger dollar typically makes U.S. exports less competitive.
“Everywhere you look, there’s less-than-ideal seeding weather,” said Jim Gerlach, president of A/C Trading, referring to dryness in the U.S. Plains and Russia.
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However, steady planting progress in the United States, where farmers had seeded 51 per cent of their winter wheat by Sunday, tempered concern about dry weather.
The most active soybean contract Sv1 on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) settled down 17-3/4 cents at $10.16-1/4 a bushel and hit its lowest point in two weeks.
CBOT corn Cv1 settled down 5-1/4 cents at $4.20-3/4 a bushel and notched its lowest since Sept. 30, while CBOT wheat Wv1 settled up 2-1/4 cents at $5.94-3/4 a bushel.
Grain markets were curbed by easing crude oil prices as investors assessed military escalation in the Middle East.
Traders were also shifting attention toward monthly U.S. government crop forecasts on Friday, including updated estimates of the U.S. corn and soy harvests after projecting record yields for both crops last month.
Monday’s U.S. Department of Agriculture weekly crop progress report showed corn and soy harvests are both ahead of average, aided by dry weather in the U.S. Midwest.
Rain forecast in parts of Brazil was seen aiding early planting, which had been delayed due to overly dry soil conditions.
Brazil’s soybean planting for the 2024/25 season had reached 4.5 per cent of the total expected area as of last Thursday, agribusiness consultancy AgRural said on Monday, up from two per cent the previous week but still well below last year’s 10 per cent.
—Additional reporting for Reuters by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Naveen Thukral in Singapore
