2024-01-17 22:16:11
Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures fell near a two-year low on Wednesday as Brazilian crops benefited from warmer weather and challenged U.S. exports in the global market, analysts said.
Corn futures hit a three-year low, while wheat finished almost unchanged after hitting a seven-week low on Tuesday.
Traders monitored production potential and exports from Brazil, the world’s top soybean supplier, as rains recently improved conditions for soybean and corn crops in South America.
Analysts have lowered their forecasts for Brazil’s harvests due to drought damage.
However, February and March soybean shipments to China, the world’s top importer of the oilseed, are cheaper from Brazil than from the Gulf of Mexico, said Arlan Suderman, chief commodities economist for broker StoneX.
“That makes me say that Brazil is not concerned about the size of its harvest,” Mr. Suderman said. “The world can get it a lot cheaper from Brazil right now.
The most actively traded soybean futures on CBOT ended down 21-1/2 cents at $12.05-3/4 a bushel. They finished near the session’s low of $12.05 and near Friday’s two-year low of $12.03.
Corn futures lost 1 1/4 cents to close at $4.42-1/4 a bushel, after falling earlier to $4.40, the lowest level since December 2020.
“Expectations of big harvests in South America have scared everyone away,” said Ole Houe at IKON Commodities in Sydney.
Corn also remained under pressure after the U.S. government on Friday raised its yield estimates to a record high and said national stocks in December were up 13% from a year earlier.
The rising dollar and lack of risk have also weighed on agricultural markets, according to Matt Wiegand, a commodities broker at FuturesOne. The dollar index rose to its highest level in a month, making U.S. agricultural products less attractive to importers.
“You had a massive rise in the dollar at the start of the week,” Mr. Wiegand said. “It certainly doesn’t help.
The most active CBOT wheat settled 1/2 cent higher at $5.82-1/2 a bushel, while deferred wheat contracts weakened. (Reporting by Tom Polansek in Chicago. Additional reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Peter Hobson in Canberra; writing by Marguerita Choy, Tasim Zahid and Lisa Shumaker)
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