Corn comes off one-month peak; wheat, soy little changed

Chicago corn futures slipped on Tuesday, after touching a one-month high in the previous session on concerns over Argentina and U.S crops, while wheat and soy futures were little changed.

Traders are looking ahead to Friday’s annual U.S. Agriculture Department (USDA) planting intentions report.

U.S. 2023 corn seeding is seen at 90.880 million acres, soy at 88.242 million acres and wheat at 48.85 million acres, according to analysts polled by Reuters ahead of the report.

“The market remains in a short-term uptrend as traders see the smaller corn crop in Argentina, the smaller meal production from Argentina and better demand as short-term positive forces,” commodities research firm Hightower said in a report.

Private exporters reported a sale of 112,800 tonnes of corn to unknown destinations, the USDA said on Monday.

The most-active corn contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) declined 0.31% to $6.46-1/4 a bushel, as of 0417 GMT, after a two-day climb.

Soybeans gained 0.03% to $14.42-3/4 a bushel supported by worries about the new crop season. Wheat was also up 0.04% at $6.98-1/4 a bushel.

Continued uncertainties on the fate of the Black Sea corridor for grain shipments, along with a somewhat dry outlook for Kansas, helped support wheat prices, Hightower said.

Export prices for Russian wheat fell again last week after a deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of Ukrainian grain was renewed, which supported the downward trend in world markets, alongside increased export volumes, analysts said.

Brazilian farmers have harvested 70% of the soybean area planted for 2022/23 through last Thursday, agribusiness consultancy AgRural said on Monday, up 8 percentage points from the previous week. Source: Reuters (Reporting by Mei Mei Chu; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Uttaresh Venkateshwaran)