Chicago wheat futures bounced back on Tuesday as worries over adverse weather in key exporters across the Northern Hemisphere acted as a support to the market.
Soybeans jumped to their highest since July 30 while corn gained ground after the U.S. Department of Agriculture cut its ratings for both the crops.
The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) added 0.2% at $7.61-3/4 a bushel by 0304 GMT, having closed 0.2% lower on Monday.
Wheat hit a February 2013 high last week.
Soybeans were up 0.8% at $13.78-3/4 a bushel and corn rose 0.7% to $5.72-1/2 a bushel.
The USDA lowered its U.S. corn crop rating to 62% good to excellent, down 2 points from a week earlier, and soybean ratings fell by 3 percentage points to 57% good to excellent. Traders on average had expected no change.
South Dakota corn yields were projected at 151.45 bushels per acre (bpa), the Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour said Monday evening, below the 2020 crop tour average of 179.24 bpa and the three-year crop tour average of 170.44 bpa.
Ratings for U.S. spring wheat, which has been scorched by drought in the Northern Plains, held steady at 11% good to excellent, in line with the consensus estimate. At the other end of the spectrum, 63% of the crop was rated poor to very poor, up 2 points from the prior week.
Russian agriculture consultancy Sovecon trimmed its forecast for Russia’s crop by 0.3% from last week in the latest estimated reduction for the world’s biggest wheat exporter.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture last week slashed its forecasts for harvests in Russia, Canada and the United States, igniting a price rally.
Russia’s declining output and higher prices have caught short international trading companies that sold wheat and other crops to Asian millers on expectations of bumper global supplies, three Singapore-based traders told Reuters.
The U.S. soybean processing pace was below all trade estimates for a second consecutive month in July, although the crush did rise modestly from a two-year low the prior month, according to National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA) data released on Monday.
Commodity funds were net sellers of CBOT corn, soyoil and wheat futures contracts on Monday and net buyers of soybean and soymeal futures, traders said.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Naveen Thukral; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)