Chicago | Reuters –– U.S. soybean futures rose from a one-week low on Wednesday on bargain buying and renewed concerns about excessive rains hurting U.S. production, while wheat tumbled on poor export demand.
Corn futures ended near unchanged.
Forecasts for more unwanted storms in parts of the U.S. Midwest lifted soybeans after weeks of heavy rains have flooded some fields and prevented farmers from finishing their planting, traders said.
The rains prompted analytical firm Informa Economics to cut its estimate for the 2015 U.S. soybean harvest by one per cent to 3.77 billion bushels on Wednesday.
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“I think it’s just a bounce back,” said Don Roose, president of brokerage U.S. Commodities in Iowa, about the market rally. “The market is still respectful that we have some wet areas and some very wet areas in the south.”
CBOT (Chicago Board of Trade) August soybeans gained 4-3/4 cents to $9.96-3/4 a bushel (all figures US$). September corn edged up 1-1/4 cents, to $4.24-1/2 a bushel.
The markets firmed after jitters about the Greek debt crisis and China’s stock market plunge sparked a selloff of commodities on Tuesday. Investors remained nervous about the global economy, keeping pressure on commodities.
On Friday, the U.S. Agriculture Department is scheduled to release a monthly supply and demand report that analysts expect will cut the government’s crop production forecasts.
Traders are trying to determine “the ability of the crops damaged by excess rain to recover if the weather straightens out,” said Tomm Pfitzenmaier, analyst at Summit Commodity Brokerage in Iowa.
September wheat lost 7-3/4 cents to $5.77-1/2 a bushel after Egypt, the world’s top wheat importer, made purchases from Russia and Ukraine.
Grain from the Black Sea region was about $50 per tonne cheaper than U.S. wheat, signalling limited prospects for U.S. exports, traders said.
Additional pressure on prices came from the ongoing harvest of winter wheat in the Northern Hemisphere.
Commodity funds sold an estimated 4,000 wheat contracts at the CBOT and bought an estimated 3,000 contracts each of corn and soybeans.
— Tom Polansek reports on agriculture and ag commodity markets for Reuters from Chicago. Additional reporting for Reuters by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Naveen Thukral in Singapore.
