Reuters | Chicago—U.S. corn futures fell from a six-week peak on Wednesday on profit-taking and technical selling after three sessions of gains as an expected record-large U.S. harvest weighed on the market.
Soybeans dropped for a second straight day on worries about a lack of export sales to top buyer China amid heightened trade tensions, while wheat slumped under ample global supplies.
Corn and soybeans each registered losses despite growing concerns that the latest U.S. government production forecasts were too high as pockets of dry weather and reports of disease pressure in some Midwest fields appeared likely to drag down yields.
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Without the Chinese market, it’s only a matter of time before canola futures are poised to break below C$600 per tonne in its November contract, said Phil Speiss, trader with RBC Dominion Securities in Winnipeg.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture lowered its corn and soybean crop ratings in a weekly report on Monday.
Optimism about a breakthrough in U.S.-China trade talks helped to lift soybean futures to multi-month highs late last month, but market sentiment has soured. Beijing’s hosting this week of non-Western leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has underscored its rivalry with the United States.
“China is probably the dominant factor, followed by the fact that we’re getting closer to harvest day by day, and the guessing game on yields is soon going to be over,” said Don Roose, president of U.S. Commodities.
“China is still not stepping up buying our soybeans. Every week they don’t buy is a week that we’ve lost some business.”
Chicago Board of Trade November soybeans SX25 fell to the lowest point since August 19 and settled 9-1/2 cents lower at $10.31-1/2 a bushel. December corn CZ25 shed 5 cents to $4.18 a bushel after touching its highest level since July 22 in overnight trading.
CBOT December wheat WZ25 ended down 6-1/4 cents at $5.22 a bushel.
Falling prices in Russia, amid improving harvest prospects in the world’s biggest wheat-exporting country, and expectations of an above-average crop in Australia have weighed on wheat markets this week.
—Additional reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Naveen Thukral in Singapore.
