Chicago | Reuters – U.S. corn and soybean futures eased on Monday as concerns about dull demand anchored prices as newly harvested crops flooded the market.
Wheat declined on weak demand and as rains in the drought-hit U.S. Plains wheat belt lifted prospects for the recently planted winter crop.
Largely favourable weather across the Midwest allowed farmers to continue harvesting their corn and soybean crops, and supplies have been backing up as low water on the Mississippi River slowed shipments to Gulf Coast export facilities.
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As the harvest in southern Alberta presses on, a broker said that is one of the factors pulling feed prices lower in the region. Darcy Haley, vice-president of Ag Value Brokers in Lethbridge, added that lower cattle numbers in feedlots, plentiful amounts of grass for cattle to graze and a lacklustre export market also weighed on feed prices.
“The market is focused on slowing demand trends for corn, soybeans and wheat,” said Brian Hoops, president of Midwest Market Solutions.
“We’re seeing piles and piles of corn and soybeans all over the country and we’re having a really difficult time shipping it on the Mississippi River,” he said.
Weekly soybean export inspections topped trade estimates on Monday as shipments through Pacific Northwest terminals accelerated and Gulf Coast loadings were stronger than anticipated. Corn inspections, however, remained lighter than normal for the season and wheat inspections were below trade estimates.
Chicago Board of Trade November soybeans SX2 ended down 23-1/2 cents at $13.72 a bushel, while December corn CZ2 was down 2-3/4 cents at $6.81-1/2 a bushel. CBOT December wheat WZ2 fell 12 cents to $8.38-3/4 a bushel.
Grain traders are closely watching the pace of crop exports from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports ahead of the expiration next month of a wartime shipping corridor deal.
Ukraine said that a ship carrying 40,000 tonnes of wheat departed on Sunday from Chornomorsk bound for Yemen, but uncertainty remained over whether the Black Sea exports corridor could extend beyond the Nov. 19 deadline.
China’s soybean imports in September jumped 12 per cent from a year earlier to 7.72 million tonnes, customs data showed, reversing a months-long trend of low arrivals.
– Additional reporting by Nigel Hunt in London and Mai Nguyen in Hanoi.
