(Businessweek) – Soybeans declined a third day on speculation that a rally since the beginning of February may curb demand and China, the world’s biggest buyer, may cancel more purchases. Corn and wheat retreated.
The contract for May delivery lost as much as 1 percent to $13.985 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade, the lowest since Feb. 28, and was at $14.0275 by 12:46 p.m. in Singapore. Prices surged 14 percent through March 7 since the start of February.
China imported 4.81 million metric tons last month, up from 2.9 million tons a year earlier, customs data show. The country canceled 245,000 tons of U.S. soybeans for delivery by Aug. 31, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said March 5.
“When you have beans at $14 a bushel, it is very hard to continue to be bullish on it,” Ole Houe, director of advisory services at Ikon Commodities Pty Ltd., said by phone from Sydney. “The quantity of cancellations is rising by the day and that’s got everybody running scared off beans.”
As of Feb. 27, China imported 25.5 million tons of U.S. beans since Sept. 1, about 69 percent of total shipments by the country, according to USDA data. The U.S. is the world’s biggest soybean exporter after Brazil, USDA data show.
Speculation that China may also have canceled more than 500,000 tons of Brazilian soybeans “continues to unsettle the trade,” Luke Mathews, a commodity strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, wrote in a note today.
Wheat for May delivery declined 0.4 percent to $6.5625 a bushel after touching $6.6725 yesterday, the highest for a most-active contract since Dec. 4. Corn fell 0.4 percent to $4.815 a bushel after climbing 1.1 percent yesterday.
