Corn and soybeans rise on hot, dry weather concerns | July 25, 2024

By Renee Hickman

CHICAGO, July 25 (Reuters) — Chicago soybeans and corn strengthened Thursday as worries about the August weather forecast in the central U.S. took center stage.

Meanwhile, slow demand and cheap Russian exports pressured wheat, as a crop tour in North Dakota forecast high spring yields, according to analysts.

Hot, dry weather expected for the Midwest supported corn and soybean prices. Commodity Weather Group projected up to 20% of the corn crop to be stressed within the next two weeks.

The most active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), Sv1, was up 15 cents at $10.79 a bushel by noon CT.

“We are seeing yield prospects deteriorate, as August makes or breaks beans,” says Susan Stroud, analyst at NoBullAg.com.

CBOT corn Cv1 inched up 2¾¢ to $4.20¾ a bushel. CBOT wheat Wv1 fell 8½¢ to $5.38½ a bushel.

The corn crop is largely made in July, Stroud says. “While we currently have fantastic conditions, just like in beans, things are deteriorating.”

Hot, dry weather early in August can make the difference between a “big crop and a really big crop,” she says.

In wheat, USDA data showed U.S. export sales for the week ending July 18 at 309,300 metric tons, near the low end of trade expectations. A Reuters poll showed analysts had expected 300,000 to 625,000 tons.

And scouts on an annual field tour projected U.S. spring wheat fields in northwest and north-central North Dakota are expected to produce the highest yields since at least 1994.

In Europe, slow early-season demand, as cheaper Russian and Ukrainian supplies rack up sales, has some traders worried that the European Union (EU) is falling behind in exports, even as its surplus is set to be cut by a rain-hit harvest.

(Reporting by Renee Hickman in Chicago; Additional reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Peter Hobson in Canberra)