Chicago wheat futures edged lower on Tuesday, giving up some of last session’s gains as an improvement in the condition of the U.S. winter crop pressured prices.
Soybeans eased after rebounding from a six-and-half year low on Monday with a stronger dollar keeping a lid on prices.
FUNDAMENTALS
The U.S. winter wheat crop condition was rated 53 percent good-to-excellent, up from 52 percent a week ago but still below last year’s 58 percent, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said
after the market closed on Monday. The winter wheat condition is improving following rains in the U.S. Plains and the Midwest last week.
Russian export prices for wheat fell last week, tracking a decline in Chicago futures. Black Sea prices for Russian wheat with 12.5 percent protein content were at $195 per tonne on a free-on-board (FOB) basis at the end of last week, down $3 from a week earlier, IKAR said.
Soybeans hit their lowest in more than six years on Monday following the weekend election in Argentina of a president who has promised to cut export taxes and boost production.
Argentine grains output would shoot 30 percent higher by 2019 as the nation’s new president Mauricio Macri is expected to make good on his vow to cut export taxes and state controls that have weighed on production, his farm advisor said in an interview earlier this month.
Commodity funds bought an estimated net 8,000 CBOT corn contracts on Monday, trade sources said. The funds were also net buyers of 7,000 wheat contracts and 5,000 soybean contracts, they said.
MARKET NEWS
The dollar hovered near an 8-month high against a basket of currencies on Tuesday, underpinned by lingering expectations the U.S. Federal Reserve is on course to raise interest rates in December.
U.S. crude oil futures rose more than 1 percent in early Asian trading on Tuesday, after Saudi Arabia pledged to work towards oil price stability.
