SINGAPORE- Chicago soybean futures lost ground on Tuesday, with prices facing headwinds on expectations of higher farmer sales in Argentina, a leading producer and exporter of the oilseed.
Wheat and corn gained around 1 percent each, with both commodities rising for a second consecutive session.
The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was down 0.3 percent at $14.17 a bushel. Wheat rose 1.5 percent to $8.22-3/4 a bushel and corn added 0.9 percent to $6.71-1/2 a bushel.
“A surge in Argentina producer soybean sales over the coming days could be negative for CBOT soybean futures, but we will have to see how producers react to the ‘soybean dollar’ in coming days,” said Terry Reilly, senior commodity analyst with Futures International in Chicago.
“Rains across US Hard Red Winter wheat country is beneficial for the upcoming US winter wheat planting season.”
Argentina’s farmers said on Monday the government’s decision to improve the exchange rate for soybeans exported in September is a temporary “patch” that will likely boost sales of the crop during the month, but fails to solve root issues.
Traders were also starting to adjust positions ahead of the US Department of Agriculture’s monthly supply/demand reports on Sept. 12. Some private analysts have revised their US 2022 corn yield estimates lower in recent days, fueling expectations that the USDA might do the same in its upcoming reports.
Commodity brokerage StoneX last week lowered its US corn yield estimate to 173.2 bushels per acre (bpa) from 176.0 in its previous monthly report. However, for soybeans, StoneX raised its yield forecast to 51.8 bpa, from 51.3 last month. .
