* U.S. corn futures climb on bargain-buying, but gains
limited
* Soybeans turn higher, rallying after early declines
* Wheat anchored by Black Sea export competition
(Updates with corn turning positive, pricing, adds quote,
changes byline/dateline, previous PARIS/SINGAPORE)
New York, Sept 19 (Reuters) –
U.S. corn futures rose on Tuesday in choppy trading, lifted
bargain buying after prices touched the lowest levels in nearly
three years, but limited on the upside by expectations of an
ample harvest and weak export demand, traders said.
Soybeans turned higher, shrugging off early pressure
from the harvest and stabilizing U.S. crop ratings, while wheat
futures sagged on expectations of continued export competition
from Black Sea suppliers.
As of 11:20 a.m. CDT (1620 GMT), the most-active
December corn contract the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT)
was up 4-3/4 cents at $4.76-1/4 per bushel, rebounding after a
dip to $4.67-3/4, the lowest price on a continuous chart of the
most-active contract since December 2020.
CBOT November soybeans were up 2-1/4 cents at
$13.19 a bushel while December wheat was down 1-1/4 cents
at $5.90 a bushel.
Corn rallied after a three-session slide, but struggled
to overcome a glut of global supply and weak demand for U.S.
exports.
“Corn, it’s going to be tough,” said Ben Buie, a vice
president at Crystal Valley CooCorn farmer-owned cooperative in
south-central Minnesota. “We have so many acres, and the demand
just isn’t there.”
Buie said some were optimistic that lower-than-forecast
crop yields could support prices for corn and soybeans.
“We’re going to be definitely below last year (on
harvested yields). Hard to say how much until the combines start
rolling,” he said, adding that in his stretch of the farm belt
was not yet even 1% or 2% through the harvest.
Nationally, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
late Monday
said that the U.S. corn harvest as 9% complete by Sunday and
the soybean harvest 5% complete, ahead of five-year averages.
The USDA rated 51% of the corn crop in good to excellent
condition, down 1 percentage point from the prior week, but
soybean ratings were unchanged with 52% of the crop seen as good
to excellent, bucking trade expectations for a 1-point decline.
Wheat futures were pressured by reminders of ample
supplies from the Black Sea. In Ukraine, a cargo vessel carrying
grain left the Ukrainian port of Chornomorsk, a top government
official said, in a test of Kyiv’s ability to unblock its
seaports for grain exports. The vessel was one of two that
entered Chornomorsk last week.
Meanwhile, Russian wheat export prices continued to decline
last week.
(Reporting by Zachary Goelman in New York City; Additional
reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris, Naveen Thukral in Singapore
and Peter Hobson in Canberra;
Editing by Marguerita Choy)
