Soybeans ease ahead of US acreage report, wheat up after losses

In Commodity News 30/06/2016

U.S. soybeans slid on Wednesday with the market snapping two sessions of strong gains on expectations that a U.S. government report will show farmers increased acreage for this year’s soybean crop.

Corn eased in step with soybeans although losses were limited ahead of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) annual acreage report, while wheat gained after three days of decline.

The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade fell 0.5 percent to $11.15 a bushel by 0243 GMT while corn lost 0.2 percent to $3.93-1/2 a bushel. Wheat added 0.3 percent to $4.58-1/2 a bushel. “Corn and soybeans have been supported by forecasts of hot and dry weather in the U.S. Midwest,” said Kaname Gokon at brokerage Okato Shoji in Tokyo.

“The USDA acreage report is expected to be bearish for soybeans as it is likely to show farmers planted more beans at the expense of corn.” U.S. farmers planted 92.9 million acres with corn this year, according to analysts’ estimates ahead of the release of the agency’s annual acreage report.

This compares with 93.6 million forecast by the USDA in March. Analysts have raised estimate for soybean acres to 83.8 million from the USDA’s March estimate of 82.65 million acres. Corn and soybean prices are being underpinned by outlook for hot weather in the weeks ahead and strong demand.

Temperatures in the U.S. Midwest are forecast to hit near 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius) late next week as the corn crop begins pollinating. Corn pollinating under the stress of high temperatures often causes severe yield reductions at harvest.

The USDA on Monday afternoon said the soybean crop was rated 72 percent good to excellent, down 1 percentage point from a week earlier.

It also reported that exporters sold 150,000 tonnes of U.S soybeans for delivery to unknown destinations.

In bullish news, U.S. corn export sales have outpaced last year as steady buying by Mexico helped to offset sluggish early-season purchases by traditional Asian customers like South Korea and Japan.

Commodity funds were net buyers of CBOT soybean futures contracts on Tuesday and net sellers of corn and wheat, traders said.

Traders estimated that funds bought 6,000 soybean contracts and sold 7,000 corn contracts. Estimates for wheat ranged from net even to sold 2,000 contracts.

 Grains prices at  0243 GMT
Contract    Last     Change   Pct chg  Two-day chg  MA 30    RSI
 CBOT wheat  458.50   1.25     +0.27%   -1.66%       488.69   25
 CBOT corn   393.50   -0.75    -0.19%   +2.34%       410.31   27
 CBOT soy    1115.00  -5.25    -0.47%   +3.38%       1107.78  54
 CBOT rice   10.93    -$0.01   -0.09%   -0.77%       $11.57   25
 WTI crude   48.23    $0.38    +0.79%   +4.10%       $48.77   49
 Currencies                                                   
 Euro/dlr    $1.106   -$0.006  -0.50%   -2.86%                
 USD/AUD     0.7402   -0.006   -0.75%   -2.71%                
 Most active contracts
 Wheat, corn and soy US cents/bushel. Rice: USD per hundredweight
 RSI 14, exponential

Source: Reuters (Reporting by Naveen Thukral; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)