Chicago | Reuters—Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures jumped on Monday on a flurry of short covering, with prices rebounding from last week’s 2020 lows as traders re-evaluated the U.S. political landscape after U.S. President Joe Biden abandoned his reelection bid on Sunday.
The most active CBOT soybean contract Sv1 rose more than three per cent, ending up 32-3/4 cents at $10.68-3/4 a bushel. Soybeans had plummeted in recent weeks, in part because traders had anticipated a possible second Donald Trump presidency and a potential wave of new tariffs against top global soy buyer China, market analysts said.
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Renewed trade tensions with China could mean less demand for U.S. soy on the international market and weigh on U.S. prices, at a time when global stocks are hefty, they said.
But on Monday, soybeans rallied as traders questioned Trump’s election chances in November, as U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris received strong political support. Traders told Reuters they believed a Harris presidency was more likely to maintain current U.S.-China trade policies.
“You’re seeing some market support on this idea that a Trump win is not a lock,” said Angie Setzer, partner at Consus Ag.
CBOT corn futures Cv1 also settled up 2.53 per cent, or 10-1/4 cents, at $4.15 a bushel. Wheat Wv1 futures closed 5-1/4 cents higher, up 0.97 per cent, at $5.48 a bushel on U.S. weather concerns.
After the market closed, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s weekly crop progress report rated 67 per cent of the nation’s corn crops in good-to-excellent condition, down one per cent from a week earlier and below analyst expectations. The agency said 68 per cent of the U.S. soybean crop was in good-to-excellent condition, unchanged from last week.
USDA reported the U.S. winter wheat harvest was 76 per cent complete, below the trade’s expectations. And for spring wheat, grown in the Northern Plains, USDA said 77 per cent was rated good-to-excellent, above the trade average.
—Additional reporting for Reuters by Michael Hogan in Hamburg and Peter Hobson in Canberra
