By Michael Hirtzer
CHICAGO, July 15 (Reuters) – U.S. corn and soybean futures
continued to retreat from multimonth highs on Wednesday,
pressured by investment fund selling tied to outlooks for drier
weather in the United States and reduced export demand.
Wheat futures declined to a two-week low as a rising dollar
contributed to a broad commodities selloff, with gold and
crude oil prices also falling sharply.
China’s stock indexes were down 3 percent or more, giving
some investors caution about a downturn in demand from the top
importer of many commodities including soybeans.
“The Shanghai market is really calling the shots today,”
said Mike Zuzolo, analyst at Global Commodity Analytics.
China’s economy grew in the second quarter but volatile
stock markets took a sharp dive in a reminder of the threats to
Beijing’s efforts to direct the economy out of a slowdown.
Soybeans <0#S:> posted larger declines than corn prices
<0#C:>, with some traders selling soybeans and buying corn,
Zuzolo said. “That spread is really active,” he said.
Soybeans for August delivery fell 15-1/2 cents, or 1.5
percent, to $10.18 per bushel. CBOT September corn was 2
cents lower to $4.26-1/4 as of 11:49 a.m. CDT (1649 GMT)
Meteorologists predicted warmer and drier conditions in the
eastern half of the Midwestern crop belt, where record rainfall
left pools of water, reducing corn and soybean yield potential
and damaging mature fields of soft red winter wheat.
“The forecasted shift to warmer and drier weather for the
eastern Corn Belt suggests the bleeding has stopped as far as
yield going down,” said Tom Fritz, analyst at EFG Group.
CBOT September wheat was 10-1/4 cents lower at
$5.60-3/4, the lowest since June 26.
Harvest progress in the United States and Europe was adding
supply pressure at a time of large global stocks.
The U.S. winter wheat harvest was 65 percent complete as of
Sunday, up 10 points over the week, according to the U.S.
Department of Agriculture.
Showers expected in the coming week in spring wheat belts in
the northern United States and Canada could also benefit the
later-developing crop, particularly in parched Canadian belts.
(Additonal reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Naveen Thukral
in Singapore; Editing by Pravin Char and James Dalgleish)