Chicago | Reuters — Chicago soybean futures dropped sharply on Monday, as harvest pressure pushed the market lower, traders said.
Corn followed soybeans lower, while wheat ended slightly higher on concerns that dryness across the U.S. Great Plains might limit winter wheat growth.
Chicago Board of Trade most-active soybeans fell 31-3/4 cents to $10.33-3/4 per bushel, the biggest drop since March 16 (all figures US$).
Corn dropped six cents to $3.89 per bushel and wheat added 1/2 cent to $5.94-1/4 per bushel.
Soybeans slumped from Friday’s two-year high, notched after the U.S. Department of Agriculture cut U.S. supply estimates.
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A lack of export sales left room for market pressure to take hold, traders said.
The U.S. bond market and federal agencies were closed on Monday for Columbus Day.
“USDA’s closed. It shouldn’t be a surprise, but the market doesn’t like that we didn’t see any flash sales this morning,” said Ted Seifried, vice president at Zaner Group.
USDA is expected to report significant harvest progress in its weekly crop progress report, due on Tuesday after the commodity grain markets close.
“Farmers have done an excellent job of selling their bean crop,” said Dan Smith, senior risk manager at Top Third Ag Marketing. “We might be getting a little plugged up in the elevators.”
Corn started the day trading positive, but could not withstand the drag from the soybean market as well as profit taking.
“Corn went to $3.99-1/4 overnight — close enough to $4 that farmers probably came in the door this morning selling it,” Smith said.
Wheat bucked the grain complex’s downward trend as dryness in major winter wheat-producing countries threatened planting in the Black Sea region and the U.S.
“I’ve got a lot of guys planting wheat in the dust and it’s not germinating. That’s going to have some effect,” said Smith.
— Reporting for Reuters by Christopher Walljasper; additional reporting by Michael Hogan and Naveen Thukral.
