Chicago | Reuters—Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures extended their fall on Tuesday as a strong dollar weighed down the market, analysts said.
Wheat futures stabilized as Ukraine projected a drop in grain production from 2023, while corn futures were nearly flat amid declining South American crop estimates.
CBOT soybeans futures for May delivery Sv1 were down 13-1/4 cents at $11.45 a bushel. Corn Cv1 fell 1/2 cent to $4.31 a bushel, and wheat WK24 fell 2 cents to $5.49-3/4 a bushel.
The dollar rose to its strongest since November against a basket of currencies, making U.S. farm goods costlier for buyers with other currencies and potentially damaging U.S. export demand.
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David Nobbs, chair of the Canary Seed Development Commission of Saskatchewan and pulse merchant for Purely Canada Foods, said exports are on pace for 110,000 to 120,000 tonnes in 2023-24, compared to 150,000 to 160,000 in a typical year. Statistics Canada (StatCan) projected 125,000 tonnes of exports for 2023-24, compared to 147,000 the previous year.
U.S. soy and corn suppliers face stiff competition for global export sales from South America, while Russia has exported large amounts of wheat.
But crop consultant Michael Cordonnier said he cut his Argentine corn production forecast by 3 million metric tons to 50 million metric tons due to corn stunt disease.
In Brazil, the estimate for the second corn harvest in Parana state, the nation’s second largest producer, will likely be cut in the next revision, said an official at crop agency Deral.
For wheat, Egypt’s state grains buyer said it bought 120,000 metric tons of Ukrainian supplies. Ukraine’s farm ministry said its grain harvest is likely to fall to about 52 million metric tons from 58 million tons in 2023, mostly due to an expected smaller sowing area.
Traders are monitoring U.S. plantings of corn and soybeans. Wet weather in the east and cold weather further west in Minnesota and the Dakotas meant less weekend plantings than expected, said Jason Ward, market analyst with Northstar Commodity.
Ward said the trend in grain markets has been “lower highs and lower lows,” and after a brief spike on Friday in anticipation of a confrontation between Iran and Israel, there was a “resumption of the trend.”
—Additional reporting for Reuters by Peter Hobson and Sybille de La Hamaide
