(NASDAQ) – Soybean futures prices rebounded on Wednesday, revived by lingering uncertainty over summer growing conditions and continued strong export demand.
Meanwhile, corn prices fell, while wheat was mixed.
World soybean inventories also are expected to be tight, unless U.S. farmers raise a bigger-than-anticipated crop this year, leading to nervousness over summer weather. August is the most critical month for soybean yields, leaving that crop more vulnerable to stress if a shift from an El Nino to a La Nina weather pattern occurs, bringing hot, dry weather toward the end of the summer.
“The great strength remains in soybeans,” said Arlan Suderman, chief commodities economist for brokerage INTL FCStone, noting that adverse weather during the growing season likely would take the greatest toll on the oilseed crop.
Soybean futures for July rose 4 1/4 cents, or 0.4%, to $11.37 1/2 a bushel at the Chicago Board of Trade. Prices for the oilseeds fell to the lowest since Jun. 3 on Tuesday.
Corn prices settled at a five-week low, succumbing to mostly benign near-term weather forecasts, after trading higher earlier in the day. Prices for the grain were pressured by predictions for rainfall in the eastern Corn Belt and Delta regions, and little evidence that punishing heat will thwart the upcoming corn pollination phase. Corn has rallied in recent weeks on fears that high temperatures and scant rainfall would curb crop yields, but gloom-and-doom weather scenarios have not yet played out for most of the Midwest.
“We are in the process of taking weather premium out of the corn, and we don’t appear to be done yet,” said Charlie Sernatinger, head of grains trading at ED&F Man Capital Markets, in an afternoon note to clients.
CBOT July corn fell 3 1/4 cents, or 0.8%, to $3.93 a bushel, the lowest closing price since May 19.
Wheat prices closed both higher and lower, with nearby contracts supported by a weaker U.S. dollar and longer-dated contracts weighed down by the progressing U.S. wheat harvest, which is adding newly-collected crops to already abundant supplies.
CBOT July wheat added 1/4 cent, or 0.1%, to $4.58 3/4 a bushel. September-dated contracts shed 1/4 cent, or 0.1%, to $ 4.72 1/4 a bushel.
The dollar declined 0.4% Wednesday against a basket of international currencies, according to the WSJ Dollar Index.
