GRAINS-Soybeans ease from 1-month top; corn, wheat fall

In Commodity News 22/09/2016

Chicago soybeans fell for the first time in five sessions on Wednesday, with the market taking a breather after climbing to a one-month high in the last session on concerns over rains delaying the U.S. harvest.

Corn gave up 0.4 percent after a 1-percent gain on Tuesday, while wheat eased to snap three sessions of gains.

The Chicago Board of Trade most-active soybean contract had declined 0.3 percent to $9.86-1/2 a bushel by 0321 GMT, having hit its highest since Aug. 25 at $9.94 a bushel.

Corn lost 0.4 percent to $3.39 a bushel and wheat dropped 0.5 percent to $4.04 a bushel.

“Rains are resulting in harvest delays for soybeans in the U.S. Midwest and old-crop inventories are tight. If the harvest keeps getting delayed, there could be problems with deliveries,” said Rajesh Singla, head of agriculture research at Societe Generale.

“For corn, we do not see immediate bullish factors. Planting in Brazil is progressing well but we are keeping a close watch on the La Nina weather pattern which has the potential to bring dryness over South America.”

Strong soybean demand is providing additional support.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Tuesday that exporters had sold another 110,000 tonnes of soybeans to China for delivery during the 2016/17 marketing year.

The USDA said after the market close on Monday that 9 percent of U.S. corn had been harvested as of Sunday, down from the five-year average of 12 percent for this time of the year and analyst estimates of 11 percent.

The agency said 4 percent of U.S. soybeans had been harvested, down slightly from 5 percent on average.

In the wheat market, focus is turning to Indian demand.

Indian importers have purchased around 76,000 tonnes of Ukrainian-origin wheat in the past couple of weeks as India steps up purchases after two years of poor output.

Commodity funds were net buyers of CBOT soybean, corn and wheat futures contracts on Tuesday. They were also net buyers of soymeal and soyoil, traders said.

 Grains prices at  0321 GMT
 Contract       Last  Change   Pct chg   Two-day chg    MA 30  RSI 
 CBOT wheat   404.00   -2.00    -0.49%        +0.00%   415.95    70
 CBOT corn    339.00   -1.50    -0.44%        +0.52%   333.37    71
 CBOT soy     986.50   -3.25    -0.33%        +1.44%   977.98    56
 CBOT rice      9.82  -$0.07    -0.76%        +0.61%    $9.83    64
 WTI crude     44.86   $0.81    +1.84%        +3.60%   $45.51    55
 Currencies                                                        
 Euro/dlr     $1.115  $0.000    -0.04%        -0.23%               
 USD/AUD      0.7555   0.000    -0.01%        +0.29%               
 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 Joseph Radford)