U.S. soybean futures hit a one-month high on Tuesday, as dry conditions in the Midwest hurt crop prospects and worries about a spillover from crude oil, traders said.
Corn futures were mostly higher on Midwest weather worries, but the nearby July contract fell on worries about demand for US supplies.
Wheat also rose to record the day’s high after Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow was considering pulling out of the Black Sea Grain Export Agreement.
Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures for July delivery were up 27-1/2 cents at $14.00-1/4 a bushel by 1:03 pm CDT (1803 GMT), after reaching $14.15-1/2 a bushel, the highest contract yet. . May 12.
CBOT July wheat rose 3-1/4 cents to $6.37 a bushel. For corn, the nearby July contract was down 4-3/4 cents at $6.12-1/2 a bushel, but later months were higher, with new December corn up 2 cents at $5.51-1/4.
Soybean and deferred corn futures climbed on crop stress concerns in the U.S., underscored by larger-than-expected declines in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s weekly exercise estimates for each crop.
Late Monday, USDA, the U.S. 61% of the corn crop and 59% of the soybean crop were rated excellent, both down 3 percentage points from the previous week, and analysts had expected an average decline of 2 points for both crops.
“It’s drying out,” said Jack Scoville, an analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago.
First-month July corn avoided a higher trend and fell due to weak demand for US corn supplies.
“The next few months should see better demand for beans in the U.S. But demand for corn will be worse because Brazil will start supplying corn and their prices will be cheaper than ours,” Scoville said.
Brazilian farmers will harvest record crops of soybeans and corn this year, with the government’s food supply and statistics agency Konab reporting favorable conditions in key growing regions.
Meanwhile, US crude oil prices rose more than 3% after China’s central bank cut short-term interest rates for the first time in 10 months. Soybeans and corn sometimes follow the trends of crude oil, which are used as feedstocks for biofuels. (Additional reporting by Gus Trompis in Paris and Matthew Sy in Singapore; Editing by Shweta Aggarwal and Grant McCool)
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