Moves in all three commodities were muted as traders were reluctant to place aggressive bets ahead of key US Agriculture Department reports on supply and demand on Thursday. Rains in central and north-eastern Argentina threatened to flood soyabean fields, but the latest forecasts called for improvements in the coming weeks, traders said.
At 11:13 a.m. CDT (1713 GMT), Chicago Board of Trade March soyabean futures were up 5-1/2 cents at $10.00-1/4 a bushel. The market also received support from better-than-expected weekly export inspections data, which provided some relief after a disappointing report on global demand for US supplies last week.
The USDA said on Monday morning that soyabean export inspections totalled 1.457 million tonnes in the latest reporting week, exceeding the high end of trade forecasts that ranged from 1.1 million tonnes to 1.4 million tonnes. CBOT March soft red winter wheat futures were up 3/4 cent at $4.24 a bushel. Prices peaked at $4.28-1/4, the highest for the most-active wheat contract since Oct. 14. Expectations for a cutback in seedings in places such as Kansas were providing support. The USDA will release its wheat plantings report on Thursday, along with monthly world crop forecasts, quarterly US grain stock estimates and updated estimates on 2016 US crop production. Concerns about wheat production in Europe also lent support due to deep frosts forecast in Black Sea grain-exporting countries Romania, Bulgaria, Russia and Ukraine. CBOT March corn futures were 1-1/4 cent lower at $3.56-3/4 a bushel.