Chicago | Reuters — U.S. soybean futures ended down about one per cent on Wednesday on macroeconomic worries as the dollar bounced and brokers awaited more information on the size of the U.S. harvest, analysts said.
Wheat futures closed lower after a choppy session but corn eked out a higher close as traders awaited fresh fundamental news.
Chicago Board of Trade November soybeans settled down 13-3/4 cents at $13.69-3/4 per bushel while staying above a two-month low set on Monday at $13.61-1/4 (all figures US$).
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CBOT December wheat fell one cent to end at $9.02 a bushel and December corn settled one cent higher at $6.84 a bushel.
The dollar index rebounded as recent risk-on sentiment reversed and U.S. stocks dropped. A firmer dollar tends to make U.S. grains less attractive globally.
“The mood has switched more risk-off today with equities falling and a firm dollar unfavourable for U.S. export prospects,” said Matt Ammermann, StoneX commodity risk manager.
“The concern is that the high food prices consumers around the world are seeing will reduce demand. The U.S. soybean export program is already looking poor now,” Ammermann said.
The U.S. harvest of corn and soybeans is progressing under clear skies across much of the Midwest this week, adding seasonal pressure to the markets as traders monitored yield reports from farmers. The corn harvest was 20 per cent complete by Sunday and the soy harvest was 22 per cent complete, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said.
“We don’t have a good handle on fundamentals. We are still trying to figure out what yields are,” said Alan Brugler, president of Brugler Marketing.
Commodity brokerage StoneX raised its estimate of the average U.S. corn yield to 173.9 bushels per acre, from 173.2 previously, but lowered its corn production estimate to 14.056 billion bushels, from 14.168 billion last month.
For soybeans, StoneX lowered its forecast of the U.S. 2022 yield to 51.3 bu./ac. from its Sept. 1 figure of 51.8. The firm forecast U.S. soybean production at 4.442 billion bushels, down from 4.515 billion previously.
USDA is scheduled to release updated crop estimates on Oct. 12.
— Reporting for Reuters by Julie Ingwersen in Chicago; additional reporting by Michael Hogan in Hamburg and Naveen Thukral in Singapore.
