U.S. corn futures fell on Tuesday amid a broad commodity sell-off on concerns over the global economy, though losses were limited by a widely watched report that showed the condition of U.S. crops was worse than expected.
FUNDAMENTALS
* The most active corn futures on the Chicago Board Of Trade Cv1 were down 1% to $5.54 a bushel by 0121 GMT, having gained 2.6% in the previous session when prices hit a July 27 high of $5.59-3/4 a bushel.
* The most active soybean futures Sv1 were down 0.9% to $13.40-3/4 a bushel, having firmed 0.3% on Monday.
* The most active wheat futures Wv1 were down 0.8% at $7.23-1/2 a bushel, having closed up 3.7% on Monday when prices hit a May 13 high of $7.32 a bushel.
* The U.S. Department of Agriculture rated 62% of the U.S. corn crop in good-to-excellent condition in its weekly crop progress report on Monday, down 2 percentage points from the previous week, a larger decline than most analysts had expected.
* Ratings for soybeans improved, bucking trade expectations for a slight drop. The USDA rated 60% of the oilseed crop as good to excellent, up from 58% a week ago, while analysts on average had expected a 1-point decline.
* Russian agriculture consultancy Sovecon said on Monday it had cut its forecast for Russia’s 2021 wheat crop by 5.9 million tonnes to 76.4 million tonnes.
* An annual U.S. crop tour last week projected the average spring wheat yield in North Dakota at 29.1 bushels per acre this year, its lowest since 1993.
MARKET NEWS
* The dollar was on the back foot against the safe-haven yen and Swiss franc on Tuesday after soft U.S. manufacturing data and rising concerns about the coronavirus Delta variant prompted traders to wind back bets on a strong economic recovery.
* Oil prices fell more than 3% on Monday after weak economic data from China and the United States, the world’s top oil consumers, and higher crude output from OPEC producers stoked fears of weakness in oil demand and oversupply.
* Australian shares fell on Wednesday as a slump in mining and energy stocks outweighed a sharp gain for the second day in buy now, pay later firm Afterpay.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Colin Packham; Editing by Ramakrishnan M.)