GRAINS-Soybeans down, but aimed at monthly gain; Wheat sees biggest monthly dip since Nov 2022
CHICAGO, Aug 31 (Reuters) – Chicago soybeans fell for a third consecutive session on Thursday, but are heading toward a 3% monthly gain, supported by strong U.S. export demand and fears that dry weather was damaging the crop at a key stage of development.
Wheat traded slightly higher, but was on track for an 8% monthly fall, its biggest since May 2022, pressured by plentiful supplies from top exporter Russia.
Corn traded near even, aimed at a 6% monthly decline after well-timed rains earlier in the season aided U.S. crops.
The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Sv1 fell 9-3/4 cents to $13.77 a bushel by 11:30 a.m. CDT (1630 GMT).
CBOT wheat Wv1 was last 3/4 cent higher at $6.07-3/4 a bushel, while CBOT corn Cv1 was down 3/4 cent at $4.80 a bushel.
Ample supplies of Russian wheat have weighed on U.S. wheat futures, though Black Sea wheat exports have been stifled by the war in Ukraine. Russia denies its export issues have contributed to food shortages in Africa.
Russia’s foreign ministry said the Russian and Turkish foreign ministers would discuss a Russian proposal for an alternative to the Black Sea grain deal this week.
“The long-term fundamental story in wheat is actually not terrible,” said Joe Vaclavik, president of Standard Grain. “Global supplies, compared to demand, it’s a fairly tight situation.”
Recent soybean exports, combined with hot, dry weather in the United States pushed soybean futures to a one-month high of $14.10 on Monday.
But headwinds remain. U.S. government data on Monday showed that soybeans had suffered less damage from recent hot, dry conditions than feared, while low water levels on the Mississippi River have hampered export enthusiasm.
“This last week we’ve seen some selling pressure,” said Dan Hussey, senior market strategist at Zaner Group. “But I think there is still an underlying uptrend in the soybeans that hasn’t been invalidated.”
Soybean losses have been muted by five consecutive trading days of daily soybean sales notices from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The agency confirmed private sales of 132,000 metric tons of U.S. new-crop soybeans to China on Thursday.
For the week ended Aug. 24, soybean export sales of 1.073 million metric tons were in line with trade expectations.
Corn export sales of 1.063 million metric tons and wheat export sales of 344,100 metric tons were also in line with trade expectations.
(Reporting by Christopher Walljasper in Chicago; additional reporting by Naveen Thukral, Peter Hobson and Sybille de La Hamaide; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
((Christopher.Walljasper@thomsonreuters.com; 1 630 269 3072; Reuters Messaging: christopher.walljasper.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
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