US wheat futures fell to the lowest levels in about a month while corn and soyabeans also eased on Monday, pressured by forecasts for crop-friendly rains and plentiful global supplies, traders and analysts said. Showers this week were likely to benefit parched wheat fields in Russia and the southern US Plains while precipitation next week in northern Brazil should aid recently planted soyabeans, the Commodity Weather Group said in a note.
“This front is going to bring some of that tropical moisture into Texas and maybe into Kansas. If that’s the case, then these guys will be pretty happy,” Jack Scoville, analyst at brokerage the Price Futures Group in Chicago, said of wheat farmers. Wheat futures posted the largest declines, with K.C. hard red winter wheat tumbling about 1.7 percent while more-active Chicago Board of Trade December wheat shed 5-1/4 cents, or 1 percent, to $4.87 per bushel as of 11 am CDT (1600 GMT).
“Weather forecasters and models continue to suggest some relieving rainfall this week and possibly next,” Tobin Gorey, director of agricultural strategy at Commonwealth Bank of Australia said in a note. “Markets are treating these events now as having a higher probability, so prices have fallen.” US farmers also continued to gather their soyabean and corn crops under mostly dry conditions that were favourable for fieldwork, with the US Department of Agriculture set to update harvest progress in a weekly report later on Monday.
CBOT December corn fell 2-3/4 cents to $3.74 per bushel, hovering just above its three-week low reached on Friday. CBOT November soyabeans were 2 cents lower at $8.96-1/4, heading for their fourth session of declines after hitting a two-month high last week. Soyabeans trimmed their losses slightly after USDA said 2.36 million tonnes of the beans were inspected for export last week, above analyst expectations that ranged from 1.2 million to 1.8 million tonnes. Wheat and corn export inspections both were below analyst estimates. “(Investors) are not looking at the demand today, because the soyabean export inspections were fabulous,” Scoville added.
