(Reuters) – Chicago corn was little changed on Monday around a five-year low while soybeans dropped to their lowest since early 2010 as ideal weather across key U.S. growing regions allowed farmers to rapidly harvest record crops.
Wheat slid on plentiful world supplies, with additional pressure coming from a stronger U.S. dollar.
Chicago Board of Trade front-month corn was flat at $3.23 a bushel at 0240 GMT after dropping to $3.22 a bushel, its weakest since 2009.
Spot soybeans were down 0.3 percent at $9.07-1/4 a bushel after earlier touching $9.05-1/2 a bushel, the lowest since early 2010, while wheat fell 0.4 percent to $4.72-1/2 a bushel.
U.S. corn and wheat prices have been under pressure from forecasts of ideal weather for the crops, with no freeze expected and only a minimal chance of heavy rainfall, the Commodity Weather Group said in a note to clients.
“You have the harvest going unabated and you have reports of exceptional yields,” said Brett Cooper, senior manager for markets at FCStone Australia. “Anecdotally, most of the corn crop harvested so far has been well above the record yields.”
A stronger dollar, which makes U.S. products less competitive in the intentional market, also undermined prices.
The dollar started the week close to a six-year peak against the yen and touched a fresh four-year high against a basket of currencies, getting help from revised data that showed higher U.S. growth in the second quarter.
Large speculators cut their net long position in Chicago Board of Trade corn futures in the week to Sept. 23, regulatory data released on Friday showed.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly commitments of traders report also showed that noncommercial traders, a category that includes hedge funds, increased their net short position in CBOT wheat and increased their net short position in soybeans.
Elsewhere, early soy planting in Mato Grosso, Brazil’s top growing state, picked up pace in recent days and is more advanced than it was at this time last year at 1.7 percent complete, the state’s farm institute, Imea, said.
China has suspended the import approval process for a genetically modified soybean variety, citing “low public acceptance” of GMO food, according to two people familiar with the matter.
