Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Board of Trade soybean and corn futures slumped on Monday as traders adjusted positions before the release of key U.S. Department of Agriculture crop and inventory forecasts on Tuesday.
Big U.S. harvests, near-perfect weather for planting in Brazil and signs of slowing purchases by top buyer China are bolstering supplies for soybeans and corn, two of the top globally traded commodities.
In its monthly world supply/demand report, USDA on Tuesday is expected to raise its U.S. soy and corn harvest forecasts sightly from October.
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USDA is also expected to increase its projections for U.S. and global 2021-22 soybean ending stocks and trim its U.S. and global corn carryout estimates.
“Bearish numbers are expected in this release, especially on soybeans, which caused that complex to suffer the greatest losses,” said Karl Setzer, commodity risk analyst for AgriVisor.
Most-active CBOT soybeans settled down 17 cents at $11.88-1/2 a bushel and touched their lowest price since Oct. 13 (all figures US$).
Soybean imports by China, the world’s top buyer of the oilseed, fell 41.2 per cent in October from a year earlier, hitting the lowest level since March 2020.
Planting of Brazil’s 2021-22 soybean crop, meanwhile, reached 67 per cent of the estimated area through last Thursday, bolstered by good weather, consultancy AgRural said.
The U.S. and Brazil compete for export sales to China and other importers.
“Private analysts have started to raise their crop projections as conditions in all South American countries are quite favourable for growth,” Setzer said.
CBOT corn ended down 1-1/2 cents at $5.51-1/2 a bushel and reached its lowest price since Oct. 27. Wheat closed 1-1/2 cents higher at $7.68 a bushel after dropping to its lowest price since Oct. 28.
Wheat saw technical support after rising last week to its highest price since December 2012, said Matt Ammermann, StoneX commodity risk manager. However, global demand looks quiet after large tenders by Saudi Arabia and Egypt last week, he said.
“Wheat needs more signs of new demand,” Ammermann said.
— Reporting for Reuters by Tom Polansek in Chicago, Michael Hogan in Hamburg and Naveen Thukral in Singapore.
