Soybeans, Corn Fall on Improved US Crop Rating; Wheat Down for Third Session

Chicago corn and soybean futures slid on Tuesday after a weekly report from the U.S. government showed better-than-expected conditions for both crops.

Wheat fell for a third consecutive session on increasing estimates for Russia’s production and exports.

The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) lost 0.2% to $13.23-3/4 a bushel, as of 0401 GMT, and corn fell 0.7% to $4.84-1/2 a bushel. Wheat gave up 0.2% to $6.15 a bushel.

Weekly condition ratings for the U.S. soybean and corn crops improved in the past week more than analysts expected, U.S. government data showed on Monday.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) weekly crop progress report rated 59% of the corn crop as good to excellent, up from 57% a week ago, while 11 analysts surveyed by Reuters on average had expected an improvement of 1 percentage point.

The USDA also rated 59% of the soybean crop as good to excellent, a jump from 54% last week.

Expectations for a large crop and exports from Russia added pressure to wheat futures. Russia’s IKAR raised its forecasts for Russia’s wheat output to 89.5 million tons from 88 million.

Markets’ muted reaction to Russia’s weekend warning shots indicated traders were waiting to see actual disruptions to Black Sea grain exports before reacting.

Officials are worried escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine could threaten crop shipments since Moscow quit the U.N.-brokered Black Sea grain export deal last month.

Merchant ships remained backed up in lanes around the Black Sea on Monday as ports struggled to clear backlogs amid growing unease among insurers and shipping companies a day after a Russian warship fired warning shots at a cargo vessel.

Brazilian farmers had harvested 71% of the area planted for their second corn crop in the center-south region by Aug. 10, consultancy AgRural said on Monday, up 7 percentage points from the previous week.

The USDA on Monday said exporters sold 416,000 metric tons of U.S. soybeans to unknown destinations.

Commodity funds were net buyers of CBOT soybean, soymeal and soyoil futures contracts on Monday, traders said. Funds were net sellers of CBOT wheat futures and net even in corn futures, traders said.

(Reuters - Reporting by Naveen Thukral; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Eileen Soreng)