(Bloomberg) – Soybeans rose, heading for the biggest gain in almost three weeks, on concern that importerswill struggle for supplies before the next U.S. harvest even as South American crops increase to a record. Wheat dropped.
Farmers in Argentina, the world’s third-largest shipper, are delaying sales on expectations that the depreciation of the peso against the dollar will accelerate, boosting revenue for exporters, Argentine newspaper Clarin reported yesterday. In Brazil, where concerns about shipping bottlenecks have increased, 59 percent of the crop has been sold, up from 55 percent a year ago, researcher Celeres said yesterday. The harvest is 19 percent complete, it said.
“People are watching the supply coming from South America,” Tetsu Emori, a commodity fund manager at Astmax Investment Management Inc., which manages about $700 million, said from Tokyo. “The market hasn’t priced in yet potential delays to deliveries. It’s a good buying opportunity.”
Soybeans for May delivery rose 1.2 percent to $14.3225 a bushel by 7:11 a.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade, and earlier today gained as much as 1.8 percent, the biggest intraday advance for a most-active contract since Jan. 30. Futures trading volume was more than double the average in the past 100 days for the time of day, according to figures compiled by Bloomberg. The market was closed yesterday for the U.S. Presidents’ Day holiday. Corn for May delivery was 0.2 percent lower at $6.955 a bushel.
Argentine farmers have sold 35 percent fewer soybeans from the coming harvest than they did at this time last year, Clarin said, citing Agriculture Ministry data. Northern areas of Buenos Aires province, where crops have been too dry, missed out on rain during the weekend, and likely won’t see significant rain until Feb. 23, DTN said today. Brazil and Argentina may together produce 136.5 million metric tons of soybeans this season, an all-time high, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Soybean Planting
In the U.S., farmers may plant 78.1 million acres of soybeans this year, the biggest area ever, boosting production in 2013-2014 after the nation was hit last year by drought, according to a Bloomberg News survey. The USDA will release its estimate on Feb. 21 at its annual outlook forum in Washington. Corn planting will rise to 97.73 million acres, the highest since 1927, the survey showed.
Wheat for May delivery declined 0.4 percent to $7.4525 a bushel in Chicago, erasing a 0.5 percent gain. In Paris, milling wheat for March delivery rose 0.5 percent to 247 euros ($329.67) a ton on NYSE Liffe.
In France, the European Union’s largest wheat grower, crop conditions deteriorated in the past two months after wet weather, crop office FranceAgriMer said Feb. 15. Wheat area in Great Britain, projected in November to decline by 12 percent from the previous season, may be even smaller because excess precipitation has persisted in recent months, the Agriculture & Horticulture Development Board’s Jack Watts said Feb. 13.
“Farmers urgently need the rains to cease in the west EU countries to improve crop conditions,” Arnaud Saulais, a broker at Starsupply Commodity Brokers in Nyon, Switzerland, said today in an e-mailed report.
