CANBERRA- Chicago soybean futures fell on Wednesday from one-month highs in the previous session as a production forecast downgrade by Brazil’s crop agency tests speculative investors who have bet heavily on further price declines.
Corn futures edged higher and wheat futures also rose after falling on Monday to their lowest since August 2020 amid lower Russian export prices and cancelled US sales.
The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was down 0.7 percent at $11.88-1/4 a bushel, having hit $11.97 on Tuesday, its highest since Feb. 13.
Prices remained down around 8.5 percent this year and last month hit their lowest since 2020.
“It is too early to say whether this is a readjustment or a ‘dead cat bounce’”, said Andrew Whitelaw, an analyst at Australian consultants Episode 3.
He said speculators had grown their net short position in soybeans and the recent rise could be due to some of them being forced to cover those positions, with downward pressure on prices remaining.
Commodity funds were net buyers of CBOT soybeans on Tuesday, traders said.
