Chicago | Reuters – Chicago soybeans took a nosedive on Monday to their lowest level since September 2020 as the U.S. Department of Agriculture released data showing a record production forecast for the crop.
Meanwhile, corn rose as the government agency saw smaller than expected acreage, and wheat fell on competition from Black Sea crops.
The Chicago Board of Trade’s most active soybean contract Sv1 fell 19-1/2 cents to $9.83 a bushel by 12:37 p.m. CDT (1737 GMT) and corn Cv1 rose 7-1/4 cents to $4.02-1/4 a bushel.
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Wheat Wv1 fell 4-1/2 cents to $5.38 a bushel.
The USDA’s monthly world agricultural supply and demand report forecast a record soybean crop at 4.589 billion bushels, surpassing analysts’ already record expectations and prompting major losses.
“USDA is looking for a potential record crop, so the beans are down pretty hard,” said Jack Scoville, vice president at Price Group.
Meanwhile, some analysts were taken aback by a lower than expected harvested acres forecast in corn.
“Apparently farmers, looking at low (grain) prices and high inputs, decided to plant less corn and more beans. That area up in Minnesota, Iowa and up there in the Northern Plains that had some excess water, they switched to some beans,” said Jim Gerlach, president of A/C Trading.
Wheat faced pressure from the disclosure of offers on Egypt’s biggest ever wheat tender, highlighting the competitive pricing of Black Sea supplies.
Some 15 suppliers submitted offers in the Egyptian tender, with the cheapest price before freight for Ukrainian wheat and limited offers of French wheat much pricier, traders said.
Wheat’s fall was limited by bad crop news from France and elsewhere in Europe.
France’s 2024 soft wheat crop is expected to be 25 per cent below last year’s after relentless rain.
– Additional reporting by Naveen Thukral in Singapore and Michael Hogan in Hamburg
