By Naveen Thukral
SINGAPORE, Jan 5 (Reuters) – Chicago soybean ticked lower on Wednesday as prices eased after two sessions of strong gains, even as dry weather in parts of South America kept prices close to their highest since late July.
The corn and wheat markets lost ground.
The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Sv1 slid 0.2% to $13.86-1/2 a bushel as of 0352 GMT, not far from last session’s highest since July 21 at 13.92-1/4 a bushel.
Corn Cv1 lost 0.3% to $6.07-1/2 a bushel and wheat Wv1 gave up 0.7% to $7.65 a bushel.
Forecasts are for hot and dry weather in Argentina and southern Brazil, after rains last week, while early harvest in northern Brazil has been slowed by precipitation.
Brazil’s corn and soybean crop forecasts were scaled back on Monday by consultancy StoneX, with the country’s soybean crop lowered to 134.0 million tonnes, from 145.1 million in December, and its corn crop to 117.5 million tonnes, from 120.1 million in December.
Traders anticipate a slew of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports due on Jan. 12, including updated U.S. 2021 crop production figures, as well as Dec. 1 quarterly stocks and updated South American crop estimates.
The wheat market is being supported by tightening world supplies. Condition ratings for winter wheat fell sharply during December in Kansas and Oklahoma, the top two U.S. winter wheat producers, USDA said on Monday.
Commodity funds were net buyers of CBOT corn, soybean, soyoil, wheat and soymeal futures contracts on Tuesday, traders said. COMFUND/CBT
(Reporting by Naveen Thukral; Editing by Uttaresh.V and Shounak Dasgupta)
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