Monday 17 June 2013

GRAINS-Corn at 3-week low, soy falls for 4th day on US weather

Mon Jun 17, 2013
* Corn down 0.8 pct to lowest in more than 3 weeks

* Soy falls 1 pct to 2-week low on U.S. weather

* Wheat at 2-month low as U.S. harvest gather pace
By Naveen Thukral
SINGAPORE, June 17 (Reuters) - Chicago corn slid to its lowest in more than three weeks on Monday, while soybeans fell for a fourth consecutive session to a two-week low under
pressure from forecasts of crop friendly weather across the U.S. grain belt.

Wheat lost more ground, sliding to its lowest since early April as the U.S. winter wheat harvest progressed in the southern Plains, boosting supplies amid weak demand.

Growing conditions have turned ideal in the U.S. Midwest after record rains early this spring led to the slowest corn and soybean plantings in 17 years.

The extended forecast shows occasional showers and warm temperatures, which should speed crop growth, agricultural meteorologists said.

"The increasing likelihood that the forecast record increase in global grain production will come to fruition remains the main factor driving new-crop prices lower," said Luke Matthews,
commodities strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

Chicago Board of Trade new-crop December corn was down 0.8 percent to $5.28-3/4 a bushel by 0535 GMT after touching its lowest since May 23 and November soy fell 1 percent to
$12.86 a bushel.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture in its monthly demand-and-supply report on Wednesday estimated the corn crop at 14.005 billion bushels, a billion bushels larger than the record
set in 2009.

Bumper crops would be a dramatic rebound from three years in a row of falling corn and soybean production which tightened stocks and led to sky-high prices. Corn stocks are headed for
their lowest level in 17 years in 2012/13, with supplies set to be razor-thin until harvesting starts in the autumn.

Concerns over the pace of planting in recent weeks have led large speculators to raise their bullish bet on U.S. soybean futures to the biggest in more than seven months, the latest
regulatory data released on Friday showed.

July wheat lost 0.7 percent to $6.75-3/4 a bushel, its lowest since early April.

The harvest of winter wheat in the United States, the world's biggest exporter, is under way and early reports from drought-hit Texas and Oklahoma are not as bad as feared,
agronomists and others said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture raised its estimate of the 2013 U.S. winter wheat harvest last week to 1.509 billion bushels, from 1.486 billion in May.

  Prices at  0535 GMT
  Contract        Last    Change  Pct chg  MA 30   RSI
  CBOT wheat     675.75    -5.00  -0.73%   866.93   30
  CBOT corn      528.75    -4.25  -0.80%   759.53   47
  CBOT soy      1504.00   -12.50  -0.82%  1580.68   43
  CBOT rice      $16.35   -$0.16  -0.97%   $15.51   69
  WTI crude      $97.42   -$0.43  -0.44%   $89.23   67
  Currencies                                               
  Euro/dlr       $1.332   $0.103 
  USD/AUD         0.961   -0.094 
  Most active contracts
  Wheat, corn and soy US cents/bushel. Rice: USD per hundredweight
  RSI 14, exponential

(Reporting by Naveen Thukral; Editing by Michael Perry and Richard Pullin)

No comments:

Post a Comment