CANBERRA — Chicago corn futures fell on Monday after a short-covering rally lifted prices by 3.8 percent last week, with traders balancing concerns that hot weather will shrink US yields against an overall picture of plentiful supply.
Wheat futures gave back some of Friday’s gains and soybeans were down for the first time in four trading sessions as soyoil prices dipped from two-year highs.
The most active corn contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was down 0.4 percent at $4.26 a bushel by 0245 GMT, with CBOT soybeans Sv1 falling 0.6 percent to $10.29-1/4 a bushel and wheat 0.4 percent lower at $5.44 a bushel.
All three contracts remain close to multi-month or multi-year lows due to ample supply, but traders fear that forecast heat in the United States could damage corn and soybean production.
Around 7 percent of global corn supply now faces weather-related threats, including parts of the US, Ukraine and Russia, said Tobin Gorey, founder of Cornucopia, a consultancy.
“The coarse grain market has substantial weather worries for the first time this northern summer,” he said. “(These) worries are large enough to lift prices, and likely started to do so last week.”
US biofuel policy meanwhile means more soybeans are likely to be crushed for soyoil feedstock, and the wind-down of the US winter wheat harvest is easing downward pressure on wheat.
