Soybeans Advance to Two-Week High as Dryness Seen Cutting Yields
Category: Oilseeds
(Bloomberg) – Soybeans climbed to the highest in almost two weeks on speculation that dry weather in parts of the U.S. will cut yields in the world’s biggest producer. Corn fell.
Dryness in the southwestern Midwest will expand through Aug. 6, which may begin to stress soybeans, MDA Weather Services said in a report yesterday. Seventy-one percent of the soybean crop in main U.S. growing areas was in good or excellent condition as of July 27, down from 73 percent a week earlier, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said yesterday.
“The meager rainfall in parts of the Midwest of late has reduced moisture levels in the upper soil layers,” Carsten Fritsch, an analyst at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt, said in an e-mailed report. “Although soil moisture levels are still good at lower levels, rain will soon be needed to prevent yield expectations from being revised downwards.”
Soybeans for November delivery rose 0.3 percent to $11.11 a bushel by 4:21 a.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade. Earlier the price touched $11.165, the highest since July 17. Prospects for a record U.S. harvest sent prices to $10.55 a bushel on July 23, the lowest since October 2010.
Corn for December delivery fell 0.3 percent to $3.7575 a bushel. Prices fell to a four-year low at $3.6425 a bushel on July 24. Seventy-five percent of U.S. corn was in good or excellent condition, down from 76 percent a week earlier, the USDA said yesterday.
Wheat for September delivery was little changed at $5.3425 a bushel. In Paris, milling wheat for November delivery dropped 0.7 percent to 177 euros ($238) a metric ton on Euronext.
