U.S. grains: Chicago soybeans rise on Brazil’s weather woes
Wheat up more than two per cent on Russian strike in Ukraine; corn finishes slightly higher
| 2 min read
CBOT January 2024 soybeans with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. soybean futures ended higher on Tuesday as Brazil’s torrid, crop-threatening weather conditions remained a prime worry for the market, despite rains over the last couple of days.
Wheat futures also rose more than two per cent after a Ukrainian official said that Russian forces struck port infrastructure on one of Ukraine’s key export routes.
The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) rose 10 cents to close at $13.77-1/4 per bushel (all figures US$).
Rain during the last few days in Brazil, the top global soybean exporter, was not nearly enough to abate market worries regarding the potential that the long-term, brutally hot weather will menace crops, analysts said.
“December could be a tough month again. We could go back to hot dry,” said Ted Seifried, chief market strategist for Zaner Ag Hedge.
“Long-term forecasts can be tough to trust. But the concern is that they go back to hot and dry after this week.”
Brazil’s 2023-24 soybean planting had reached 68 per cent of the expected area as of Thursday, the slowest progress for the period since 2019-20, agribusiness consultancy AgRural said.
Analysts said there was unconfirmed talk in the market that China’s state-owned importer Sinograin bought U.S. soybeans from the Pacific Northwest.
The soybean market was also still reacting to Sunday’s presidential election in Argentina, the world’s top soymeal and soyoil exporter. Producers may be taking a wait-and-see approach to how the country’s President-elect Javier Milei will implement his libertarian agenda after he takes office on Dec. 10, analysts said.
“That likely means that Argentinian farmers aren’t going to sell any sort of grain between now and that time. Short-term, that’s pretty bullish,” Seifried said.
CBOT December corn settled up 1/2 cent at $4.70 per bushel.
CBOT wheat closed up 11-1/2 cents at $5.55 a bushel after a Ukrainian official said Russian forces struck port infrastructure in Ukraine’s southern city of Odesa.
— Reporting for Reuters by Brendan O’Brien in Chicago; additional reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Naveen Thukral in Singapore.
