Wheat, corn and soybeans fall in Chicago ahead of USDA report

Wheat, corn and soybean futures ended lower in Chicago on September 9 ahead of the release of the USDA’s September report. Investors took profits following earlier gains and awaited updated US crop estimates. December CBOT wheat fell 2.44% to $267.77/t, corn declined 1.08% to $207.78/t, while November soybeans lost 0.51% to $481.15/t.

Wheat came under pressure from expectations that the USDA will make no significant changes to its US production forecast. According to a Bloomberg survey, traders expect production to be estimated at 718 mln bushels, just 1 mln bushels above the August forecast. As of September 6, US farmers had harvested 86% of the spring wheat crop, 3 percentage points ahead of the normal pace.

Corn also moved lower despite expectations that the USDA will reduce its US crop forecasts. Traders expect the agency to cut its average yield estimate by 2.6 bushels per acre to 178.1 bushels per acre and production by 236 mln bushels to 15.777 bln bushels. Meanwhile, the USDA reported a sale of 182.88 thsd tons of new-crop US corn to Mexico.

Soybean futures posted a more moderate decline. The market expects the USDA to lower its soybean yield estimate by 0.3 bushels per acre to 52.4 bushels per acre and production by 27 mln bushels to 4.492 bln bushels. New export sales provided some support, with the US selling 340 thsd tons of new-crop soybeans to China and another 100 thsd tons to unknown buyers.

European grain markets also moved lower. On Euronext MATIF in Paris, December milling wheat futures fell 1.01% to €244.75/t, while November corn declined 0.38% to €265/t. March wheat eased to €244.50/t, while March corn was unchanged at €262.25/t.

Tags: futures, Chicago, global market, corn, prices, soybean, wheat