Soybeans and corn ease on US harvest progress and Brazil rain forecasts

Chicago soybeans and corn eased on Tuesday as brisk U.S. harvest progress and forecasts for rain in drought-hit Brazilian crop belts bolstered expectations of abundant global supplies.

Wheat edged down as weakness in corn and soy countered support from weather and war risks in the Black Sea region.

Grain markets were also curbed by easing oil and share prices as investors assessed military escalation in the Middle East and economic stimulus in China.

Traders were also shifting attention towards monthly U.S. government crop forecasts on Thursday, including updated estimates of the U.S. corn and soy harvests.

The most active soybean contract Sv1 on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was down 1.4% at $10.19-1/4 a bushel by 1204 GMT, close to an earlier two-week low.

CBOT corn Cv1 fell 0.8% to $4.22-1/2 a bushel while CBOT wheat Wv1 gave up early gains to stand 0.4% down at $5.90 a bushel.

“The corn and soybean markets start to feel harvest pressure. The 2024 harvest is advancing rapidly in the United States thanks to particularly hot and dry weather in recent weeks,” Argus analysts said in a note.

The U.S. soybean harvest was 47% complete by Sunday and the corn harvest was 30% finished, data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) showed on Monday, with both harvests ahead of the average pace of recent years.

Soybean futures had hit a two-month top a week ago as concerns that drought could disrupt planting in Brazil encouraged short-covering by investors.

But forecasts predicting a gradual return of rain in much of the country from early October have eased crop concerns.

Brazil’s soybean planting for the 2024/25 season had reached 4.5% of the total expected area as of last Thursday, agribusiness consultancy AgRural said on Monday, up from 2% the previous week but still well below last year’s 10%.

Chicago wheat rose initially as traders reacted to the latest reports of attacks on vessels in Ukraine and further signs of adverse weather in Russia.

But steady planting progress in the United States, where farmers had drilled 51% of their winter wheat by Sunday, tempered concern about dry weather.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Naveen Thukral in Singapore, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips, Mrigank Dhaniwala and David Goodman)