SINGAPORE- Chicago soybean and corn prices dropped on Tuesday after US government data showed that a decline in crop conditions due to hot and dry weather was not as severe as many analysts had expected.
Wheat inched higher, although sluggish demand for US supplies and competition from cheap Russian grain limited the upside in prices.
“The market is watching US weather for soybeans in the coming weeks,” said one Singapore-based agricultural commodities analyst. “Too much heat and dryness will reduce yields.”
The most active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was down 0.4 percent at $14.00-3/4 a bushel. Corn fell 0.6 percent to $4.93-1/2 a bushel and wheat added 0.1 percent to $6.17-1/2 a bushel.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) in a weekly crop progress report on Monday rated 58 percent of the soybean crop as good to excellent, down a percentage point from 59 percent last week. Thirteen analysts surveyed by Reuters had on average expected a 3 percentage point decline.
