SINGAPORE- Chicago soybean futures gained more ground on Thursday, rising to their highest in more than a week, after a grains exchange sharply reduced its forecast for Argentina’s crops, raising concerns over global supplies.
Wheat slid, falling for four in five sessions, while corn dropped for the first time in three sessions in position squaring ahead of key US government crop reports due later in the day.
“Argentina’s weather outlook turned negative…,” said Terry Reilly, senior commodity analyst with Futures International in Chicago. “Light rains favor Cordoba and Buenos Aires today and Thursday before dry weather sets in Friday through Sunday, and through next week.”
The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was up 0.7 percent at $15.03-1/4 a bushel, after climbing to its highest since Jan. 3 at $15.07-1/4 a bushel, earlier in the session. Wheat lost 0.2 percent to $7.38-1/4 a bushel and corn gave up 0.1 percent to $6.55-1/2 a bushel.
Argentina’s Rosario Grains exchange sharply cut its forecast for the country’s 2022/23 soybean harvest to 37 million tons from a previous forecast of 49 million, it said on Wednesday, as the country faces its worst drought in 60 years. – Reuters
