Soybean stumbles amid dollar rebound

Onome Amuge

Soybean futures currently undergoing tight global supplies, slipped on Thursday as the dollar held gains, supported by higher treasury yields after a bigger-than-expected rise in U.S. consumer prices fanned fears about an increase in inflationary pressure.

The most-active soybean futures on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) which gained 1.7 per cent on Wednesday, tumbled off an eight-and-half-year high reached in the previous session, falling 1.1 per cent to $16.24-1/4 a bushel.

On the other hand, the most-active corn futures were down 1.7 per cent to $7.02-1/4 a bushel, near the session low of $6.98-1/2 , the lowest recorded figure since May 5 while the most-active wheat futures lost 0.6 per cent to $7.25-1/4 a bushel.

Meanwhile, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), in its recently released monthly report, projected U.S. 2021/22 soybean ending stocks at 140 million bushels, roughly in line with trade expectations but up only slightly from the 120 million bushels expected at the end of 2020/21, a seven-year low.

For corn, the USDA projected U 2021/22 corn ending stocks at 1.507 billion bushels, up from 1.257 billion expected at the end of 2020/21.  The USDA however lowered its estimate of Brazil’s 2020/21 corn crop to 102 million tonnes, from 109 million recorded in April.

The agriculture department said this year’s corn, wheat, and soybeans would fetch markedly higher prices at the farm gate than the 2020 crops now on the market while Brazil, the world’s largest soybean grower and exporter, was projected to harvest a record 144 million tonnes of soybeans in 2021/22 and export 93 million tonnes.