Chicago | Reuters — U.S. soybean futures surged about six per cent on Friday after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported much lower-than-expected 2023 soy plantings and June 1 inventories, while corn futures tumbled on larger-than-expected acreage.
Wheat futures fell in sympathy with corn, despite a smaller-than-expected quarterly wheat stocks figure.
On the Chicago Board of Trade, November soybeans settled up 77-1/2 cents at $13.43-1/4 per bushel (all figures US$). CBOT December corn fell 33-3/4 cents to finish at $4.94-3/4 a bushel and September wheat fell 16-1/2 cents at $6.51 a bushel.
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Soybean futures soared after USDA said U.S. farmers planted 83.5 million acres of the oilseed, down four million acres from the government’s March forecast and below the lowest in a range of analyst estimates. The reduced acreage implies smaller new-crop supplies of the oilseed.
“For beans, if the yield falls to 50 (bushels per acre), instead of the expected 52, then that’s tight, really tight,” said Craig Turner, commodities trader at Daniels Trading.
Arlan Suderman, chief commodities economist for StoneX added: “The margin for error for soybeans just went to zero.”
USDA reported U.S. soybean stockpiles as of June 1 at 796 million bushels, down 18 per cent from a year ago and below most trade estimates.
The tighter soybean outlook sent several CBOT soyoil futures contracts up their daily four-cent limit, prompting the exchange to widen daily trading limits for soybean, soymeal and soyoil futures for Monday’s trading session.
For corn, USDA’s plantings estimate of 94.1 million acres was up more than two million acres from its March forecast and topped the range of analysts’ pre-report estimates.
Coupled with crop-boosting rains crossing Iowa and Illinois on Friday, the data pointed toward a larger corn crop and renewed questions about demand for the yellow grain. As a result, new-crop December corn futures dropped below $5 a bushel for the first time in a month.
“The corn number was bad. We’re getting rain, and the demand is poor,” Turner said.
The big corn acreage number overshadowed smaller-than-expected stocks figures. USDA reported June 1 corn stockpiles at 4.106 billion bushels, below most trade estimates, while June 1 wheat stocks fell to 580 million bushels, the lowest for this time of year since 2008.
On the global front, Russia said it saw no reason to extend the United Nations-brokered Black Sea grain deal beyond July 17, but assured poor countries that Russian grain exports would continue.
Meanwhile, wheat exporters in the European Union are facing a tougher start to the new season as massive supplies of cheaper Russian grain mop up international demand, traders said.
— Reporting for Reuters by Julie Ingwersen in Chicago; additional reporting by Naveen Thukral in Singapore and Sybille de La Hamaide in Paris.
