Posted on March, 23, 2023 at 09:50 am
Chicago soybeans edged higher on Thursday, rising for the first time in three sessions and recovering from a three-month low, although expectations of an all-time high production in Brazil limited gains.
Wheat rose from its lowest in eight months, while corn also edged higher.
The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was up 0.2% at $14.50-3/4 a bushel as of 0302 GMT, rebounding from Wednesday's low of 14.43-1/4, its weakest level since Dec. 6.
Corn edged 0.2% higher at $6.35 a bushel and wheat gained 0.8% at $6.69 a bushel.
Brazil's soybean output and exports will be higher than expected in 2023, Brazilian oilseed lobby Abiove said, as local farmers harvest a bumper crop, Chinese demand remains strong and Argentine growers grapple with weather issues.
Abiove now estimates Brazil's soy production at a record 153.6 million tonnes, 1 million more than the projection in January.
Private exporters earlier reported the sale of 178,000 tonnes of corn to China, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said.
Traders await the USDA's weekly report on net export sales of U.S. grains and soy, due later in the day.
Prices of agricultural products are also being weighed down by timely rains in France and elsewhere in western Europe, easing concerns about dry conditions for wheat crops.
Ukraine's grain exports for the 2022/23 season, however, totalled 36.3 million tonnes as of March 22 due to a smaller harvest and logistical difficulties caused by Russia's invasion, agriculture ministry data showed on Wednesday.
The ministry gave no comparative data for the same date last year. It said Ukraine had exported 44.8 million tonnes of grain as of March 27, 2022.
Commodity funds were net sellers of CBOT corn, soybean, wheat, soymeal and soyoil futures contracts on Wednesday, traders said. (Reporting by Naveen Thukral; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Savio D'Souza)
Source: Reuters