By Michael Hirtzer
CHICAGO, Feb 10 (Reuters) – U.S. corn, soybeans and wheat
fell as much as 1 percent on Tuesday as investors adjusted
positions ahead of U.S. government crop estimates, due at
midday, that should confirm ample global grain supply.
Agricultural futures at the Chicago Board of Trade also came
under pressure from tumbling crude oil futures and a rising U.S.
dollar. Corn eased after climbing to a three-week high on
Monday.
“Losses in the outside markets… are spilling over into the
commodities,” MaxYield Cooperative analyst Karl Setzer said in a
note to clients. “There is very little interest in buying
anything ahead of the report numbers, which is not uncommon
after buying such as we have seen in recent sessions.”
CBOT corn for March delivery eased 3-1/4 cents to
$3.88 per bushel as of 10:30 a.m. CST (1630 GMT).
CBOT March soybeans were down 2-3/4 cents to $9.75-3/4
and CBOT March wheat 1-1/2 cents lower to $5.28-1/4.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, in its monthly supply
and demand figures, was likely to make only minor adjustments to
its forecasts, and global grain supplies were ample in the early
days of bumper South American harvests, which follow record-high
U.S. corn and soy crops last autumn.
On Tuesday, Australia eased one of the few production
concerns in the wheat market when the world’s No. 4 exporter
raised its forecast for the just harvested 2014/15 wheat crop,
citing timely rains in key growing regions.
“The market is waiting to see what is going to happen in the
USDA report, obviously the trend has been of lower prices and
good supplies across the board,” Phin Ziebell, agribusiness
economist, National Australia Bank, said.
“Certainly, we have seen some welcome rains in the U.S. over
the past month and we haven’t seen the kind of conditions which
will result in a significant downward revision in yields.”
Soybeans drew some support earlier this week on news that
top soybean importer China purchased 120,000 tonnes, while
analysts at AgRural and FCStone reduced forecasts for the crop
in Brazil.
But forecasters still expect a record Brazilian harvest that
could dent export demand for U.S. soybeans.
Prices at 10:30 a.m. CST (1630 GMT)
LAST NET PCT YTD
CHG CHG CHG
CBOT corn 388.00 -3.25 -0.8% -8.1%
CBOT soy 975.75 -2.75 -0.3% -25.7%
CBOT meal 329.00 -0.60 -0.2% -24.8%
CBOT soyoil 31.63 -0.38 -1.2% -18.5%
CBOT wheat 528.25 -1.50 -0.3% -12.7%
CBOT rice 1025.00 -18.50 -1.8% -33.9%
#VALUE!
US crude 50.81 -2.05 -3.9% -48.4%
Dow Jones 17,797 68 0.4% 7.4%
Gold 1236.86 -2.07 -0.2% 2.6%
Euro/dollar 1.1315 -0.0008 -0.1% -17.1%
Dollar Index 94.6790 0.2300 0.2% 18.3%
Baltic Freight 556 2 0.4% -75.6%
(Additional reporting by Naveen Thukral in Singapore and Gus
Trompiz in Paris; Editing by Jane Merriman and David Gregorio)