Chicago | Reuters—Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) corn and soybean futures ticked down on Wednesday as traders adjusted positions ahead of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) quarterly grain stocks and prospective plantings reports due on Thursday.
Traders are focused on U.S. plantings intentions after farmers harvested a record corn crop last year, sending corn futures to three-year lows in 2024. Soy and wheat futures also dropped to three-year lows this year.
Market analysts predict U.S. corn and wheat plantings will fall from 2023 and soybean plantings will increase, while March 1 stocks of all three crops are seen higher than a year ago.
Read Also
Alberta crop conditions improve: report
Varied precipitation and warm temperatures were generally beneficial for crop development across Alberta during the week ended July 8, according to the latest provincial crop report released July 11.
Market activity on Wednesday was driven by technical moves, as traders sought to reduce risk before the USDA releases its data, analysts said.
“The report has a history of being a game changer,” said Tom Fritz, a broker at EFG Group. “People are going to get even. A lot of guys are sitting on their hands today and waiting to see what the USDA will say.”
Traders will also review weekly export sales data on Thursday.
The most-active CBOT corn contract Cv1 settled down 5-3/4 cents at $4.26-3/4 a bushel, while CBOT soybeans Sv1 fell 6-1/2 cents to $11.92-1/2 a bushel. CBOT wheat Wv1 rose 4 cents to $5.47-1/2 a bushel.
Ample supplies of corn and soy, accompanied by fading Chinese demand, continued to weigh on the markets, with corn falling for a fourth straight session.
Brazilian agribusiness consultancy Agroconsult increased its 2023/24 soybean crop estimate for Brazil to 156.5 million metric tons, up 4.3 million tons from its January estimate.
Hefty amounts of cheap wheat are emerging from Russia, which expects a third consecutive large harvest this year and could set a new March shipping record of 5 million tons this month.
(Reporting by Heather Schlitz in Chicago. Additional reporting by Peter Hobson in Canberra and Sybille de La Hamaide in Paris; Editing by Paul Simao, Kirsten Donovan)
