Chicago/Reuters – U.S. soybean futures rallied on Thursday, rebounding on technical buying after the previous session’s steep losses, while corn edged higher and wheat lower in choppy trading as the dollar rose, traders said.
All three commodities pared earlier gains, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s monthly forecast on Wednesday for larger-than-expected and record-large U.S. corn and soy harvests continuing to hang over the market.
The dollar tested Oct. 25’s roughly nine-month high against a basket of currencies, making U.S. goods more expensive in some global markets.
Read Also
Alberta crop conditions improve: report
Varied precipitation and warm temperatures were generally beneficial for crop development across Alberta during the week ended July 8, according to the latest provincial crop report released July 11.
Chicago Board of Trade January soybean futures settled 7 cents higher at $9.98 per bushel, after reaching an earlier high of $10.19 per bushel.
Soybeans came off their session peaks after USDA in a weekly report said about one million tonnes of U.S. soybeans were sold for export in the week ended Nov. 3, below expectations for 1.7 million to two million.
Export sales of U.S. corn of 1.2 million tonnes were within the range of expectations and export sales of U.S. wheat of 769,581 tonnes were above expectations.
CBOT December corn finished 2-3/4 cents higher at $3.43-1/2 per bushel and CBOT December wheat down two cents to $4.04-3/4.
The buying agency for top global wheat importer Egypt announced a tender after the close seeking global wheat offers for Dec. 15-25 shipment.
“A lot of the bearish news is out there, so how much more bearish can you be when we know there is a lot of grain and oilseeds?” said Stefan Vogel, global grain strategist at Rabobank. “I expect continued strong U.S. soybean exports, not just this week but for much of the season.”
With abundant supplies of U.S. corn, soybeans and wheat, some farmers were looking for opportunities to sell physical supplies, according to Linn Group analyst Roy Huckabay.
“On any rally, you have farmer selling,” Huckabay said, adding that farmer selling would likely cap potential gains.
Market attention also was turning to South American crops now being grown.
Brazil’s official crop supply agency Conab forecast Brazil early next year would harvest a soybean crop of 101.6 million tonnes to 103.5 million tonnes, down slightly from its outlook of 101.9 to 104.0 million tonnes last month.
Conab estimated Brazil’s 2016/2017 corn output at 83.1 to 84.6 million tonnes, up from 82.3 to 83.8 million tonnes last month.
