By Julie Ingwersen
CHICAGO, Could 14 (Reuters) – U.S. corn futures fell for a 3rd straight session on Friday, with the benchmark July contract CN1 hitting a two-week low on fund-driven lengthy liquidation amid easing considerations about dwindling provides, analysts mentioned.
Soybean and wheat futures had been modestly increased after paring early advances.
As of 1:15 p.m. CDT (1815 GMT), Chicago Board of Commerce July corn futures CN1 had been down 30 cents at $6.44-3/Four per bushel. July soybeans SN1 had been up 2 cents at $15.86 a bushel and July wheat WN1 rose 6-1/Four cents to $7.07-3/4.
Corn fell greater than 4% and was on observe to put up a weekly decline of 12% – its first retreat in seven weeks – as merchants centered on this week’s bigger-than-expected provide outlook from the U.S. Division of Agriculture.
The USDA report, coupled with jitters in monetary markets over inflation, fuelled promoting after corn’s eight-year peak final week. Commodity funds maintain a large web lengthy place in CBOT corn futures, leaving the market vulnerable to bouts of lengthy liquidation.
“I simply suppose the specs have extra promoting to do. It could take climate (issues) to get this market going once more,” mentioned Jack Scoville, analyst with the Worth Futures Group in Chicago.
The market shrugged off the USDA’s affirmation of personal gross sales of 1.36 million tonnes of new-crop U.S. corn to China, the most recent in a sequence of corn gross sales bulletins in current days.
Scoville mentioned the bookings, for supply within the 2021/22 advertising and marketing yr that begins Sept. 1, 2021, counsel China could also be accomplished shopping for old-crop U.S. corn, which is scarce as provides dwindle forward of the autumn harvest.
In the meantime, personal analytics agency IHS Markit Agribusiness projected U.S. 2021 corn plantings at 96.eight million acres, up considerably from the USDA’s present forecast of 91.1 million acres.
Corn and soy futures drew mild assist from information that the Mississippi River reopened to vessel visitors close to Memphis, Tennessee, ending a shutdown of a part of the waterway that brought on a backlog of greater than 1,000 barges loaded with grain, oil and different items.
For wheat, merchants had been weighing harvest prospects within the northern hemisphere, with forecasts calling for restricted rain in components of Russia and elevating some considerations regardless of forecasts this week pointing to a bumper harvest. WASDE13
Rains anticipated within the southern U.S. Plains might increase winter wheat there, though dryness in northern spring wheat zones remained a danger, analysts mentioned.
(Further reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Colin Packham in Canberra; Modifying by Marguerita Choy and Elaine Hardcastle)
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