(Reuters) – Chicago corn futures slid on Tuesday, falling from last session’s two week high as the above-average pace of planting across the U.S. Midwest anchored prices.
Wheat lost ground as the market faced pressure from the stable condition of the U.S. hard red winter wheat crop while soybeans edged higher after closing lower for the last four sessions.
Chicago Board Of Trade most-active corn contract fell 0.4 percent to $3.92-1/4 a bushel by 0313 GMT, after hitting a two-week high of $3.94-1/4 a bushel on Monday.
Wheat dipped 0.3 percent to $4.73-1/2 a bushel and gained 0.1 percent to $10.65 a bushel.
“The trend in corn is a bit bearish as U.S. farmers are quickly planting the crop and the weather seems to be favorable,” said Kaname Gokon at brokerage Okato Shoji in Tokyo.
“The winter wheat crop is doing well but there are some concerns about forecasts of rains which have potential to reduce yields.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s weekly crop progress report pegged U.S. corn plantings at 75 percent complete as compared with 64 percent a week ago and above the five-year average pace of 70 percent.
Soybean plantings were 36 percent over, higher than 23 percent a week ago and five-year average of 32 percent.
Soybean prices are facing headwinds from slowing demand.
U.S. soybean processors cut back on their pace of crushing during April, with slowdowns in major production areas of the Midwest overcoming year-on-year increases at southern plants, the National Oilseed Processors Association said on Monday.
NOPA said that its members crushed 147.614 million bushels of soybeans in April, down from 156.69 million during March.
The USDA rated 62 percent of the hard red winter wheat crop in good-to-excellent condition, similar to a week ago but above the five-year average of 45 percent.
In other news in the wheat market, Argentine wheat exports more than doubled in the first quarter, government data showed, as farmers rushed to sell stockpiles ahead of an expected jump in plantings spurred by the open-market policies of new President Mauricio Macri.
The surge in Argentine supply is hitting an oversaturated world market and putting downward pressure on prices.
Commodity funds were net buyers of an estimated 4,000 to 8,000 Chicago Board of Trade corn contracts on Monday. They were net even in both soybeans and wheat, traders said.
