Chicago | Reuters — U.S. corn and soybean futures fell on Friday as recent welcome rains across the Midwest farm belt, and forecasts for more next week, aided crops that had been suffering under an early season drought.
Soybeans, which notched a four-month high on Monday, ended down 1.9 per cent for the week, while corn was little changed in the week after hitting the lowest point in 2-1/2 years at midweek.
Grain traders are monitoring shifts in weather as more U.S. corn enters its critical pollination stage. Two-thirds of corn and 60 per cent of soybeans were affected by drought as of Tuesday, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
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Seasonal weakness and recent rains across the Prairies pressured feed grain prices according to a Moose Jaw-based trader.
“Rain makes grain and we’ve had some pretty good rains. There are some questions as to how much has fallen and how much good it has done, but I would expect that the (crop condition) ratings on Monday should be steady to up,” said Mark Gold, managing partner at Top Third Ag Marketing.
Normal to above-normal precipitation was forecast for the central and southern Midwest in the six- to 15-day period, and the northwest corner of the region was seen remaining largely dry, according to Commodity Weather Group.
Chicago Board of Trade December corn ended down 12 cents at $4.94-1/2 a bushel while November soybeans fell 21-3/4 cents to $13.17-3/4 a bushel (all figures US$).
CBOT September wheat dropped 8-1/2 cents to $6.49-1/2 a bushel, down 0.2 per cent for the week.
Weekly USDA corn export data showed sales in line with trade expectations last week, while wheat sales and new-crop soybean sales topped estimates.
Additionally, USDA on Friday confirmed Mexico purchased 180,000 metric tonnes of old- and new-crop U.S. corn.
Traders are awaiting a monthly USDA supply-and-demand report on Wednesday, with cuts to U.S. corn and soybean yield estimates possible.
— Reporting for Reuters by Karl Plume in Chicago; additional reporting by Naveen Thukral in Singapore and Sybille de La Hamaide in Paris.
