(Reuters) – U.S. soybean futures fell for the first time in three sessions on Monday as the market took a breather on expectations of record production in Brazil and Argentina.
Wheat rose for a third consecutive session with support from extreme cold weather slowing grain movement in the Black Sea region, while corn was unchanged after posting gains in the previous two months.
Chicago Board Of Trade March soybeans fell 0.2 percent to $12.79-3/4 a bushel by 0328 GMT, after rising 1.1 percent in the previous two sessions.
March wheat rose 0.2 percent to $5.56-3/4 a bushel, while March corn was flat at $4.34 a bushel.
Record soybean production in Brazil and Argentina is likely to boost competition in the global market in the months ahead although infrastructure bottlenecks could slow the movement of cargoes.
Investors in the oilseed market are expecting China, the world’s top soybean importer, to switch to buying more shipments from Latin America.
“The oilseed market continues to look at the South American harvest and what China might do in response to that,” said Luke Mathews, commodities strategist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
Farmers in Brazil’s top soybean-producing state Mato Grosso are reporting soy harvest yields well above what they had expected, which if the trend continues, could make Brazil the world’s top producer of the oilseed.
In the wheat market, there was support from slowing grain movement in the Black Sea region.
Russia has halted grains exports from the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk due to windy weather, while Ukraine’s national railway has imposed temporary restrictions on cargo deliveries to the Black Sea port of Odessa due to snow drifts.
U.S. corn futures were flat on Monday after gaining in December and January, with strong global demand underpinning the market.
The U.S. Agriculture Department said on Thursday corn exports last week were 1.8 million tonnes, the most so far in the 2013/14 marketing season.
Large speculators trimmed their net short positions in CBOT corn futures in the week to Jan. 28, 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 cut their net long position in soybeans.
