CANBERRA, Sept 19 (Reuters) – Chicago wheat prices fell
nearly 1% on Tuesday after sliding 2.2% in the previous session
as cheap Russian grain flooded the market and the docking of
ships in Ukraine raised hopes of easier shipments from the
war-torn country.
Corn and soybean futures also dropped as the start of the
U.S. harvest boosted supply at a time of slack demand.
FUNDAMENTALS:
* The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of
Trade (CBOT) was down 0.9% at $5.85-3/4 a bushel at 0112
GMT and slipping towards last week’s 33-month low of $5.70.
* CBOT corn was 0.2% lower at $4.70-1/2 a bushel and
soybeans were down 0.1% at $13.15 a bushel.
* The price of 12.5%-protein Russian wheat for free-on-board
(FOB) delivery in October fell to $235 a metric ton last week,
the IKAR agriculture consultancy said.
* The SovEcon agriculture consultancy, meanwhile, estimated
Russia’s monthly shipments at 4.9 million tons in September
versus 4.2 million last year.
* Also pressuring prices was news that two cargo vessels
arrived in Ukraine on Saturday using a temporary corridor to
sail into Black Sea ports and load grain despite the collapse of
a safe-passage deal with Russia earlier this year.
* “Funds view the lack of action by the Russians as a sell
signal,” analysts at StoneX said in a note. Ukraine is a major
exporter.
* Meanwhile, traders said importers in China bought between
five and 10 cargoes of about 60,000 tons each of French wheat in
the past week.
* Commodity funds were net sellers of Chicago soybean,
wheat, corn, soyoil and soymeal futures on Monday, traders said.
* Turning to corn and soybeans, the U.S. government data
showed the U.S. corn harvest was 9% complete by Sunday and the
soybean harvest was 5% complete, both ahead of five-year
averages.
* Crop condition ratings hovered at their lowest in a
decade, with 51% of corn and 52% of soybeans in “good to
excellent” condition, reflecting dry conditions.
* U.S. soybean production should fall to a four-year low of
4.146 billion bushels this year, but corn output should be the
second-largest on record at 15.1 billion bushels, the U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA) forecast last week.
* The United States is the world’s No. 2 exporter of corn
and soybeans after Brazil.
* Export demand for U.S. soybeans remained weak despite
confirmation by the USDA on Monday of private sales of 123,000
metric tons of U.S. soybeans to China for shipment in 2023/24.
* Soybean spot basis bids fell at processors and elevators
in the eastern half of the U.S. Midwest in anticipation of
increased harvest selling, dealers said.
* Chicago soybean prices have fallen more than 3% from last
Thursday’s close. Corn is hovering near a 33-month low of $4.69
a bushel reached on Monday.
* Outside the United States, the European Union’s crop
monitoring service MARS cut its forecast for this year’s EU
grain maize yield by 3% to 7.26 metric tons per hectare.
* Analyst APK-Inform raised upgraded its estimate for
Ukraine’s 2023/24 corn exports to 19 million metric tons from 18
million.
* Meteorologists and analysts said a large part of Brazil
was expected to suffer from extreme heat this week that could
hamper the country’s soybean planting.
MARKETS NEWS
Global equities slid and the 10-year Treasury yield traded
near a 16-year high on Monday amid concerns that high U.S.
interest rates will take a toll on U.S. consumers.
(Reporting by Peter Hobson; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
