Chicago | Reuters—Chicago corn futures dipped on Thursday after the U.S. Department of Agriculture projected domestic ending stocks will remain at a five-year high, despite a reduction from last month.
Wheat and soybean futures also edged lower, though tensions in the Black Sea region kept a floor under the wheat market.
Much of the session’s trade was focused on USDA’s monthly supply and demand report, which stood firm on its forecast for hefty Brazilian corn and soybean production.
The USDA lowered its corn stock estimates to 2.122 billion bushels from 2.172 billion bushels in March.
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The agency continued to paint a different picture of Brazil’s harvest than Brazilian crop agency Conab. Earlier in the day, Conab reduced output projections for soy and corn, citing adverse climate in top grower Mato Grosso state for the fall in expected overall soy output and a smaller planted area for corn.
Conab said Brazil will produce 146.522 million metric tons of soybeans in the 2023/24 farm cycle, and harvest 110.964 million tons of corn. But USDA put Brazil’s soybean production at 155 million tons, and corn at 124 million tons.
USDA cut its forecast for Argentina’s corn crop to 55 million metric tons from 56 million in March, below analysts’ expectations for 55.6 million.
Argentina’s Rosario grain exchange on Wednesday cut its forecast from 50.5 million to 57 million metric tons citing “unprecedented” damage from the sprioplasma disease spread by leafhopper insects.
“I’m really unsure how grasshoppers can cause a 7 million metric ton reduction in crop. That’s dramatic,” said Ted Seifried, chief market strategist of The Zaner Group.
The most active corn contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Cv1 was down 5-1/2 cents at $4.28-3/4 a bushel. CBOT Wv1 was 6-3/4 cents lower at $5.51-3/4 a bushel and soybeans Sv1 eased 5-1/2 cents to $11.59-1/4 a bushel.
—Additional reporting for Reuters by PJ Huffstutter and Heather Schlitz in Chicago, Gus Trompiz in Paris and Naveen Thukral in Singapore
