GRAINS-Soybeans Ease for 2nd Day, Near 3-WK Low on Supply Pressure
Category: Oilseeds
(Reuters) – Chicago soybeans slid for a second session on Monday to trade near their lowest in three weeks, pressured by ample global supply and a steep decline in Chinese prices.
Wheat slid for a fourth consecutive session on abundant world supplies and as U.S. producers failed to win business in Egypt, the world’s top importer. Corn edged lower.
The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade had fallen 0.5 percent to $9.81-1/2 a bushel by 0327 GMT. It closed down 1.2 percent on Friday when prices marked their lowest since Oct. 21 at $9.77 a bushel.
Corn lost 0.2 percent to $3.39-3/4 a bushel and wheat slid 0.4 percent to $4.01-1/4 a bushel.
“Soybeans have seen a bit of pressure and I think some of the decline has got to do with the weakness in Chinese soybean markets,” said Phin Ziebell, agribusiness economist at National
Australia Bank.
“China’s domestic soybean market has come off. They have been buying a lot of U.S. beans, but that demand can’t be unlimited.”
In China, Dalian soybean futures lost 4.5 percent.
Soybean meal and soyoil also slid more than 3 percent.
The pace of U.S. soybean shipments is lagging behind previous years, despite a U.S. Department of Agriculture forecast for record exports, analysts said.
The focus in the soybean market is turning to South American growing conditions. Brazil has experienced some beneficial rains, while conditions in some parts of Argentina are too wet to plant beans.
Corn is under pressure amid expectations of silo-bursting supplies. The USDA last week raised U.S. corn output to a record high.
Egypt’s state grain buyer GASC said it had bought 60,000 tonnes of Russian wheat. Traders said GASC had purchased the wheat from Aston at $192.50 a tonne free-on-board (FOB) and $9.64 a tonne freight equating to $202.14 a tonne cost and freight. There was no U.S. wheat offered in the Egyptian tender.
Commodity funds were net sellers of CBOT soybean, corn and wheat futures contracts on Friday, traders said.
