SINGAPORE, Aug 30: Chicago corn and soybean futures eased on Friday as weather forecasts promised some relief for parched crops across the U.S. Midwest.
Wheat ticked higher as the market recovered from three straight sessions of decline on signs of buyers returning to the market.
Investors in Asia are positioning ahead long weekend with U.S. Financial markets closed for Labour Day holiday on Monday.
‘Everyone is looking at favourable weather moving over the weekend and the next week in the U.S. Midwest,’ said one Melbourne-based analyst.
‘Traders in Asia are expecting prices to soften going into the U.S. Session because of the long weekend and the market is just getting ahead of that.’
Concerns about hot and dry weather in the U.S. Midwest had supported prices, with new-crop November soybeans rising to an 11-month high this week and corn futures climbing to a five-week peak.
Corn and soybeans were planted late this season due to excessively wet spring weather, leaving each crop well behind normal maturity pace and exposed to harsh weather in August.
Chicago Board of Trade November soybeans had dropped 1.4 percent to $13.49-3/4 a bushel by 0259 GMT on Friday and December corn fell 0.7 percent to $4.78 a bushel.
Soybeans have risen 1.6 percent this week, on track for a fourth consecutive week of gains. The contract has added almost 12 percent in August.
Corn is up 1.7 percent this week, its third straight week of gains.
Abnormally dry conditions and pockets of moderate drought spread over parts of the U.S. Midwest in the past week, including in the key crop state of Iowa, according to a report issued on Thursday.
The U.S. Drought Monitor, issued weekly by state and federal climate experts, said more than 60 percent of Iowa was suffering from moderate drought, up from 35 percent a week earlier.
The wheat market edged higher on expectations of strong demand and weather concerns in Argentina.
Spot-month wheat rose 0.1 percent to $6.42 a bushel. Wheat is up 1.2 percent this week, rising for a second straight week.
Argentina’s recently planted 2013/14 wheat crop has seen uneven rains, with healthy rainfall in southern parts of the wheat belt but dry conditions beginning to hurt more farms further north, the Buenos Aires Grains Exchange said in its weekly Thursday report.
Argentina is a major global wheat exporter, with most of its shipments going to neighbouring Brazil. The exchange expects 3.9 million hectares to be planted with the grain this season, up from 3.6 million in the last crop year. (AGENCIES)
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