By Michael Hirtzer
CHICAGO, April 27 (Reuters) – U.S. corn and wheat futures
fell on Monday to their lowest levels since October, on outlooks
for speedy corn plantings in the Midwest and crop-friendly rains
in the southern Plains wheat belt.
Chicago Board of Trade corn futures extended declines to
their sixth straight session amid forecasts for dry weather this
week that will allow farmers to work fields. Analysts polled by
Reuters expected the U.S. Department of Agriculture later in the
day to report U.S. corn plantings as of Sunday at 21 percent
complete, above last year’s pace.
“We could have two solid weeks of planting, with some
scattered showers in between, which would be pretty much ideal,”
said Jefferies Bache grains analyst Shawn McCambridge, adding
that investors were bearish due to the good U.S. weather.
“With the lower trend, the funds continue to accumulate
short positions. They have done so over the last couple of
Commitments of Traders reports, and I don’t think they are done
quite yet.”
After the close of trading on Friday, a Commodity Futures
Trading Commission report showed speculative investors,
including hedge funds, adding to net short positions in each
crop.
On Monday, several CBOT wheat contracts <0#W:> notched
contract lows at midmorning, pressured by rainfall in Texas and
Oklahoma that could boost yields for U.S. wheat varieties that
were too high priced to compete in global export markets.
CBOT May wheat was down 11-1/4 cents, or 2.4 percent,
to $4.74-3/4 per bushel as of 11:06 a.m. CDT (1606 GMT), after
falling to a contract low of $4.73-1/2. On a continuous wheat
chart, prices fell to the lowest level since Oct. 1.
CBOT May corn eased a 1/2 cent to $3.64 after earlier
falling as low as $3.61, lowest since Oct. 10.
Worries the U.S. bird flu outbreak could reduce demand for
animal feed also weighed on prices. The outbreak of H5N2 across
several parts of the United States has led to the slaughter of
millions of turkeys and chickens as commercial farms try to
control the spread of the virus.
Soybean futures edged higher, lifted in part by a USDA
announcement of that exporters sold 158,000 tonnes of U.S.
soybeans to unknown destinations.
Soybeans for May delivery were up 7 cents to $9.76-3/4
per bushel, near the roughly two-week high reached on Thursday.
(Additional reporting by Julie Ingerswen in Chicago, Ahmed
Aboulenein in London and Naveen Thukral from Singapore, editing
by William Hardy and David Gregorio)