Chicago crop futures all finished lower on Tuesday, following the release of the USDA’s monthly supply-demand update.
Corn fell after the USDA held its 2024-25 US corn ending stocks estimate unchanged from last month at 1.54 billion bu, compared to trade ideas for a small reduction. However, the USDA did trim its Brazil and Argentina corn production estimates from last month and cut world ending stocks more than expected. Profit taking was negative for corn prices, as was improving Argentina forecasts. In Argentina, meteorologist Applied Climatology said that the recent heat in the country is breaking, and that rains for much of the corn belt are due Friday and Saturday. March corn fell 7 ½ cents to $4.84 and December lost a penny to $4.70 ¼.
Soybeans were down amid disappointment the USDA did not ramp up its 2024-25 US export forecast from last month. In fact, the USDA left all of its US soybean supply-demand estimates steady from January. The Argentina soybean production estimate was lowered from last month, while Brazil was held steady. Global ending stocks also fell. March beans dropped 6 cents to $10.43 ½, and November slipped 2 cents to $10.55 ½.
For wheat, the USDA lowered 2024-25 US and global ending stocks from last month. March Chicago fell 2 ½ cents to $5.77, March Kansas City lost 4 cents to $5.92 ¾, and March Minneapolis was down 7 cents at $6.18 ¼.
