Agro Perspectiva

Soybeans, Corn, Wheat Decline as Warm Weather Aids U.S. Crops

24.06.2010 11:07 "Agro Perspectiva" (Kyiv) — Soybeans, corn and wheat declined as warmer weather in U.S. growing regions aided crops in the world’s largest exporter. November-delivery soybeans fell 0.2 percent to $9.3425 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade at 2:16 p.m. Singapore time, after losing as much as 0.9 percent earlier. Corn for December delivery lost 0.4 percent to $3.705 a bushel, while wheat for September delivery dropped 0.4 percent to $4.74 a bushel. Hot temperatures in the Midwest will aid crop development, while similar weather in the central and south Plains favors maturing wheat crops, Telvent DTN Inc. said in a forecast yesterday. The Midwest is the largest corn and soybean corn- growing region in the U.S. «There’s a lot of focus on the weather in the U.S.,» Toby Hassall, a research analyst at CWA Global Markets Pty, said by phone from Sydney today. «The weather forecasts I’m seeing are indicating a slightly more favorable outlook for the corn and soybean crops.» India is expected to plant more acreage to the oilseed this year, boosting output, Religare Commodities Ltd. said today in an e-mailed report. The nation, the world’s fifth-largest soybean grower, was forecast by the U. S. Department of Agriculture to produce 8.8 million metric tons in the 2010–2011 season, up from 8.75 million tons a year earlier. Still, drier weather in China’s corn-growing regions may push the world’s second-largest consumer to boost imports, potentially providing support to prices, Hassall said. In northeast China, dry weather may persist through early next week and continue to deplete soil moisture, increasing stress on corn, soybean and spring-wheat crops, DTN said. «That might lead to China requiring more U.S. corn to satisfy their needs,» Hassall said. «There are some supportive elements in the market at the moment, but from my point of view, the main factor is what is looking like a record large crop in the U.S.» China has bought six cargoes of corn totaling 360,000 tons from the U.S. in the past two weeks, bringing purchases to 16 cargoes, or almost 1 million tons, two executives familiar with the transactions said. That brings corn imports by China, a net exporter until 2009, to the highest level in 14 years, according to data from the USDA. The U. S. corn crop, the world’s largest, is forecast to expand to a record 339.6 million tons in the year beginning September, from 333 million tons a year earlier, according to the USDA. That will push the global stockpiles to 147.3 million tons at the end of the 2010–2011 season, up from 143.4 million a year earlier, it said June 10.