CANBERRA: Chicago soybean and corn futures edged lower on Friday, but were headed for weekly gains of around 4% after forecasts for hot, dry conditions in the central United States led to concerns that US harvests may be smaller than expected.
China June soy imports from Brazil rise 2%
Wheat futures fell and were down 1% from last Friday’s close, with the market well-supplied by harvests in the northern hemisphere.
Fundamentals
The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was down 0.2% at $10.77 a bushel, as of 0044 GMT, with CBOT corn slipping 0.1% to $4.20-1/4 a bushel and wheat down 0.1% at $5.37-1/4 a bushel.
All three are near their lowest levels since 2020 due to expectations of plentiful supply and the accumulation of large bearish bets by speculators.
Hot, dry weather forecast for the US Midwest lifted corn and soybeans, with up to 20% of the US corn crop likely to be stressed in the next two weeks, according to Commodity Weather Group.
Solid US export sales also supported prices.
Weekly US soybean export sales were 829,700 metric tons for 2024-25, at the upper-end of analyst estimates, and weekly corn export sales of 745,200 tons for 2024-25 exceeded analyst estimates.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) also on Thursday reported the sale of 264,000 metric tons of US soybeans to unknown buyers for 2024-25.
In wheat, favourable US and Russian harvest prospects have offset an expected drop in western European production.
Scouts on an annual North Dakota crop tour on Thursday projected that hard red spring wheat yields in the top-producing state will average 54.5 bushels per acre, the highest according to records going back to 1992.
US wheat exports were sluggish, meanwhile, with sales for the week ended July 18 at 309,300 metric tons near the low-end of trade expectations.
Commodity funds on Thursday were net buyers of CBOT corn and soybeans and net sellers of wheat, traders said.
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