Chicago | Reuters—U.S. corn and soybean futures fell for a fourth straight session on Tuesday and hit multi-week lows, guided by sharp declines in equities and crude oil and forecasts for timely rains in Brazil that have tempered worries about early-season planting delays.
Wheat futures also slipped as rain expected in parched Russian and Ukrainian wheat areas eased supply concerns and diverted attention from uncertainty over Russian export policy.
“In the midst of a general macro sell-off going in many different markets, we have this two-week forecast still showing good rains in South America,” said Rich Nelson, chief strategist at Allendale Inc. “It’s a clear risk-off day today.”
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After a dry stretch that delayed early planting, key crop areas in South America have received good rains in recent days and forecasts call for more over the coming week.
“The rain over the next week should lead to very significant improvements in soil moisture, wiping out most of the soil moisture deficits in Mato Grosso, Goias, Tocantins, Bahia, Minas Gerais, and northern Sao Paulo,” Maxar meteorologist Kyle Tapley said.
Meanwhile, mostly dry weather in the U.S. farm belt has boosted harvesting of what the U.S. Department of Agriculture expects will be the largest U.S. soy crop on record and the second-largest corn crop.
A weekly USDA report due later on Tuesday is expected to show the corn harvest at 44% complete and the soy harvest 64% done.
Chicago Board of Trade November soybeans SX24 were down 5 cents at $9.91 a bushel, after touching their lowest level since Aug. 29. December corn CZ24 was down 7 cents at $4.01-1/4 a bushel after hitting a one-month low.
CBOT December wheat WZ24 ended down 5-3/4 cents at $5.79-1/2 a bushel.
The Russian government set a minimum price and a higher duty to limit exports, but the impact of the measures was unclear and the market focused on crop-boosting rain in the forecast.
—Additional reporting for Reuters by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Peter Hobson in Canberra
