Commodities: Corn falls after improved US crop conditions, wheat holds up

Chicago corn futures lost ground on Tuesday after a weekly U.S. government report showed improving crop conditions following rains in the Midwest grain belt, while soybeans rose.

Wheat prices rose for the first time in four sessions, led by concerns over tight global supplies.

“The weather in the United States in the coming weeks is critical in determining soybean and maize yields and can improve production prospects,” said Pranav Bajoria, director of Singapore-based broker Comglobal.

The most active corn contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was down 0.2% at 03:36 GMT at $4.98-1/2 a bushel and soybeans were up 0.5% at $13.52-1/2 a bushel.

Wheat rose 0.5% to $6.49-1/4 a bushel.

Corn valuation improved 51% last week to 55% in good to excellent condition and was above average expectations in a Reuters survey of 53%. However, the rating is the worst for this time of year since 2012, when a drought in the United States sent global crop prices skyrocketing.

Only 51% of soybeans were in good to excellent condition on Sunday, down from 50% last week, but below analysts’ expectations of 52%.

Only 47% of spring wheat was rated as good to excellent, down from 48% a week ago, defying analysts’ expectations of up to 49% improvement.

Brazilian farmers have harvested 27% of the area planted for their second maize crop through Thursday, agro consultancy AgRural said on Monday, up 10 percentage points from last week but still below 2022 levels.

Around the same time last year, 41% of maize fields in central and southern Brazil had been harvested, the consultancy said.

Russian wheat export prices remained broadly flat last week, analysts said, as traders awaited signals on the Black Sea grain export deal ahead of Monday’s extension deadline next.

Commodity funds were net buyers of CBOT soybean, soybean oil, corn and soybean meal futures on Monday and net sellers of wheat futures, traders said. (Reporting by Naveen Thukral; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Sonia Cheema)