Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) corn and soybean futures rose on Tuesday, reversing a two-day decline. The rally followed reports of a heat wave sweeping the eastern Corn Belt and a dip in U.S. crop ratings, prompting investor interest.
CBOT wheat futures, however, continued their downward trend, hitting nearly two-month lows. This decline was influenced by the progressing U.S. harvest and positive yield reports from Russia, highlighting an abundant supply in the northern hemisphere.
The most-active wheat contract, CBOT Wheat Wv1, closed down 9-1/2 cents at $5.82 per bushel, having earlier reached $5.80, its lowest since April 22.
Conversely, CBOT soybeans Sv1 increased by 12-1/4 cents to $11.74 per bushel, while corn Cv1 rose by 6-1/4 cents to $4.50 per bushel.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported on Monday that 72% of the U.S. corn crop was rated good to excellent in its weekly crop progress report, a 2 percentage point drop from the previous week and lower than analysts had expected. Similarly, the USDA rated 70% of the soybean crop as good to excellent, down from 72% the previous week.
These updates coincided with National Weather Service forecasts warning of a high-pressure system that could bring record-breaking temperatures to the eastern Corn Belt this week.
Although the extreme heat is not anticipated to significantly impact the current corn and soybean crops, traders and agronomists are vigilant for signs of stress, particularly in fields planted in wet conditions.
“Much of the Midwestern crop is in the vegetative growth stage, which can withstand hot days and warm nights,” said Daniel Quinn, assistant professor of agronomy at Purdue University. “However, if crops were planted in wet conditions and the roots are compromised, plant stress could appear sooner than expected.”
Market participants are now looking ahead to next week’s USDA crop condition report to see if there is further deterioration, noted Brian Splitt, a founding partner of AgMarket.Net.
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