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Drought in Argentina, dismantling of COVID curbs in China support prices
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Cold weather across U.S. Plains raises worries over winter wheat
SINGAPORE, Dec 27 (Reuters) - Chicago soybean futures rose on Wednesday, gaining for a third consecutive session, as a lack of rains in key supplier Argentina and dismantling of COVID-19 restrictions in China underpinned the market.
Wheat ticked lower, although losses were limited as extremely cold weather across the U.S. Plains raised concerns over weather damage to the winter crop.
"Strong exports and a dry forecast in Argentina helped to support (prices)," Hightower said in a report. "Optimism on improving demand as China keeps easing COVID restrictions helped to support the market..."
The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) added 0.9% to $15.02-1/4 a bushel, as of 0458 GMT, whereas wheat lost 0.1% to $7.74 a bushel and corn slid 0.1% to $6.74 a bushel.
Soybean futures climbed after expected rainfall over the weekend in Argentina missed large portions of the parched growing region, analysts said.
The market also found support after China announced plans to begin issuing visas next week, though rising infections were likely to slow demand for soybeans.
For the wheat market, strong winds and temperatures well below freezing levels have threatened dormant hard red winter wheat crops across the U.S. Great Plains, especially where a lack of snow cover leaves the plants vulnerable to damage from the cold.
Russian wheat prices fell last week following a weaker rouble currency RU/RUB and high domestic supply amid a record crop, analysts said on Monday, adding the pace of sea shipping had picked up after storms.
Prices for Russian wheat with 12.5% protein content and for supply from Black Sea ports in January were at $307 a tonne free on board on Friday evening, down $5 from a week earlier, the IKAR agriculture consultancy said in a note.
All three markets found support from weekly export inspections. Exporters readied 1.75 million tonnes of soybean for export the week ended Dec. 22, near the high end of analyst estimates ranging from 1.2 million to 1.86 million tonnes.
Corn export inspections of 856,606 tonnes were near the high end of trade expectations of 500,000 to 900,000 tonnes, while wheat inspections reached 280,554 tonnes, in line with predictions of 175,000 to 450,000 tonnes.
Large speculators cut their net long position in CBOT corn futures in the week to Dec. 20, regulatory data released on Friday showed.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's weekly commitments of traders report also showed that non-commercial traders, a category that includes hedge funds, trimmed their net short position in CBOT wheat and raised their net long position in soybeans. (Reporting by Naveen Thukral; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)
