By Michael Hirtzer
CHICAGO, July 14 (Reuters) – U.S. corn futures retreated
from an earlier one-year high and fell as much as 2 percent on
Tuesday on technical selling and forecasts for crop-friendly
weather in the United States.
Wheat futures also were lower, pressured by the advancing
winter wheat harvest. Soybean futures were little changed as a
Monday report of a decline in U.S. crop conditions was offset by
outlooks for favorable weather ahead.
Meteorologists said extended forecasts showed drier
conditions in the eastern portion of the U.S. Corn Belt and
rains in the western part, each of which were likely to benefit
developing corn and soybean crops.
“Rains in the east should not be heavy enough to add to
wetness problems, especially given a drier 11-15 day outlook
there,” the Commodity Weather Group said in a note to clients.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture late on Monday reduced
soybean crop conditions and left corn conditions unchanged.
Heavy rains during the past three months amid the El Nino
weather pattern have left pools of water on some U.S. fields,
limiting corn and soybean yield potential and reducing wheat
grain quality, while propelling prices higher.
Chicago Board of Trade September corn was down 8-1/4
cents at $4.32-1/2 per bushel as of 11:10 a.m. CDT (1610 GMT),
after earlier reaching a one-year high of $4.43-1/4. Soybeans
for August delivery were down 1-3/4 cents at $10.35-3/4.
“We’ve been on a hell of a rally. We’re due for a setback.
The RSIs (Relative Strength Index) are way overbought,” said Roy
Huckabay, analyst at the Linn Group in Chicago.
Losses in soybeans were limited by data this week showing
that China imported 8.09 million tonnes of soybeans in June, the
highest volume so far this year, as crushers increased purchases
to take advantage of cheap South American supplies.
“(China) is also set to import large quantities of soybeans
in July and August,” Commerzbank analyst Michaela Kuhl said.
Meanwhile, the buying agency for top wheat importer Egypt
said at midday it purchased 235,000 tonnes of Russian and
Romanian wheat.
The agency, as expected, eschewed U.S. supplies that are as
much as $50 per tonne more expensive than wheat shipped out of
the Black Sea region.
CBOT wheat for September delivery was down 4-1/4 cents
at $5.71-1/2 per bushel, on pace to close the session at the
lowest level since June 29.
(Additional reporting by Nigel Hunt in London and Naveen
Thukral in Singapore, editing by David Evans and Peter Galloway)