By Michael Hirtzer
CHICAGO, Jan 13 (Reuters) – U.S. corn fell 2 percent and
soybean futures extended declines on Tuesday as plentiful global
stockpiles triggered liquidation of long positions by investment
funds, traders and analysts said.
Chicago Board of Trade March soybeans edged lower,
reaching a new one-week low after their worst session losses
since June on Monday, when the U.S. Department of Agriculture
predicted record-large global soy supplies.
“The (USDA) bean report was flatout bearish. That’s a tough
one to overcome,” said EFG Group analyst Tom Fritz.
Both soybean and corn futures had “outside days” on the
charts on Monday – soybeans lower and corn higher – in technical
indicators that typically hint at price direction. However, corn
failed to reach a new high despite the bullish chart formation,
sparking a selloff.
“We had the technical impetus to move higher but we’re
negating the outside up day,” said Top Third Ag Marketing
analyst Mark Gold.
USDA in its quarterly stocks report on Monday pegged
domestic corn supplies at the largest ever, but reduced the
yield of last year’s harvest to below analyst expectations.
Analysts are preparing now for looming South American harvests
and the upcoming corn and soybean planting season that will not
start for a month or more.
Meanwhile, outside markets were bearish for crop prices,
with crude oil nearing a six-year low while near-decade highs in
the dollar index could keep a lid on exports priced in
the greenback.
As of 11:26 a.m. CST (1726 GMT), CBOT March corn was
down 8-1/4 cents at $3.93-3/4 per bushel, heading for its
largest daily declines in about a week.
CBOT March soybeans were down 2-3/4 cents at
$10.13-1/4.
CBOT March wheat edged 1 cents higher to $5.56-1/2 per
bushel, with smaller U.S. planting data underpinning prices.
“We know what the fundamental picture is – there is a lot of
wheat in the world – so the USDA was a confirmation of that,” a
European trader said. “The U.S. wheat acreage was definitely a
supportive factor.”
Prices at 11:26 a.m. CST (1726 GMT)
LAST NET PCT YTD
CHG CHG CHG
CBOT corn 393.75 -8.25 -2.1% -6.7%
CBOT soy 1013.25 -2.75 -0.3% -22.8%
CBOT meal 353.80 -2.70 -0.8% -19.2%
CBOT soyoil 32.56 0.11 0.3% -16.1%
CBOT wheat 556.50 1.00 0.2% -8.1%
CBOT rice 1142.50 -3.50 -0.3% -26.3%
EU wheat 196.00 1.50 0.8% -6.2%
US crude 45.63 -0.44 -1.0% -53.6%
Dow Jones 17,789 148 0.8% 7.3%
Gold 1236.36 3.10 0.3% 2.6%
Euro/dollar 1.1787 -0.0046 -0.4% -13.7%
Dollar Index 92.2050 0.2220 0.2% 15.2%
Baltic Freight 762 39 5.4% -66.5%
(Additional reporting by Julie Ingwersen in Chicago, Gus
Trompiz in Paris and Naveen Thukral in Singapore; Editing by
Alan Raybould, David Goodman and Alan Crosby)