Investors are focusing on longer-term supportive fundamentals, with forecasts for warm, dry weather keeping traders watching the threat of declining soil moisture for an early planted U.S. crop.
"Disappointing rains for crops next week would be quite concerning for traders, even at this early date," said Arlan Suderman, analyst with Farm Futures, an agricultural publication.
U.S. farmers have little room for error in producing large crops in 2012 to make up for the shortfall in soybean production in South America. Dry soils in parts of the Midwest are keeping recently planted crops from germinating.
Meanwhile, firm cash basis levels reflective of tightening soybean stockpiles added further support to underpin prices.
Cash basis offers continue to strengthen, with end users struggling to find supplies, said Mr. Suderman. An ongoing decline in soybean registrations for delivery against the July futures contract added to the supportive tone in the market.
"The low registration count suggests that old-crop stocks are growing tight," Suderman said.
In other news, Brazilian agricultural forecasting agency Conab on Tuesday trimmed its estimate for the country's 2011-12 soybean crop.
Conab said Brazil, the world's No. 2 soybean grower after the U.S., gathered 66.37 million metric tons of the oilseed in the 2011-12 crop harvest, which has practically finished.
The latest estimate was down from Conab's May view of 66.68 million tons and represented a 12% decline from the record 2010-11 soybean crop, as a drought in some major growing regions damaged fields.
CBOT July soybeans rose 9 1/2 cents to $13.49 1/2 a bushel.
Separately, corn and wheat futures were dragged lower. Wheat fell on expectations for a good U.S. winter-wheat harvest and good spring-wheat conditions, while corn dropped on good conditions reported the by U.S. Department of Agriculture for the U.S. crop.
CBOT July wheat fell 14 1/2 cents to $6.13 1/4 a bushel, and July corn fell 1/2 cent to $5.67 1/2.
-Write to Andrew Johnson Jr. at andrew.johnsonjr@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 05, 2012 16:26 ET (20:26 GMT)
Soybean futures bucked the lower theme in corn and wheat futures, as traders factor in the risks of tighter supplies through next year in the face of strong demand.
DJ US GRAIN AND SOY REVIEW: Soybeans Climb; Weather Concerns, Tight Supply->copyright
