Chicago | Reuters—Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures strengthened on Friday as some weather models showed heavy rain putting certain U.S. production areas at risk of flooding, though they closed down for the week.
Flooding will be a concern for the soybean crop in the northern part of the Mississippi River, analysts said, if the U.S. Global Forecast System model showing more rain wins out, but less so according to the European model.
“The farm producers up there are like, ‘Enough, enough. We’re getting too much,'” said Jim McCormick, partner at AgMarket.net.
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But in the eastern Midwest, McCormick said producers of corn and soybeans are finding that their crop at this stage is responding well to the combination of moisture and heat.
That is despite fears earlier in the week that the heat wave gripping the U.S. could stress crops.
“We are not out of the weather story yet,” McCormick said, cautioning that with continued heat, crops could begin to experience damage.
CBOT July soybeans SN24 settled up 5-1/4 cents to $11.60-1/2 a bushel after closing at their lowest in two months on Thursday.
For the week, July soybeans fell 19-1/4 cents, after rising the previous week.
July corn CN24 was down 4-3/4 cents at $4.35 a bushel. For the week, it fell 15 cents.
Wheat also fell as the market reacted to the U.S. winter harvest progressing unusually quickly, along with revised crop estimates this week from both Russia and Argentina, indicating that global supply continued to be strong.
Prices fell despite USDA export data released on Thursday showing net U.S. wheat export sales in the week ended June 13 totaling 589,700 metric tons for shipment in the 2024/25 marketing year, above trade estimates for 200,000 to 500,000 tons.
July Chicago wheat WN24 was down 11-1/4 cents at $5.61-1/2 per bushel. For the week, it fell 51-1/2 cents for its fourth weekly decline.
(Reporting by Renee Hickman in Chicago; Additional reporting by Cassandra Yap and Peter Hobson in Singapore and Sybille de La Hamaide in Paris; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
