CHICAGO, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) agricultural futures closed mixed on Monday, with corn and soybean rising and wheat falling.
The most active corn contract for December delivery rose 11 cents, or 1.61 percent, to settle at 6.96 U.S. dollars per bushel. December wheat fell 10.75 cents, or 1.24 percent, to settle at 8.5875 dollars per bushel. November soybean soared 76 cents, or 5.38 percent, to settle at 14.8825 dollars per bushel.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) September Crop Report was bullish with corn and soybean futures soaring on cuts in planted/harvested acres and yield.
The report cut U.S. corn harvested acres by 900,000 acres to 89.5 million acres, and cut soybeans harvested acres by 600,000 acres to 87.2 million acres. This leads to a cut in U.S. corn yield of 2.9 bushels per acre (BPA) to 172.5 BPA and a cut in soybean yield of 1.4 BPA to 50.5 BPA, which produce 13,944 million bushels of corn, down 415 million bushels year on year; and 4,633 million bushels of soybean, down 138 million bushels.
The World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimate (WASDE) report dropped U.S. 2022-2023 corn end stocks to 1,219 million bushels. The report cut total U.S. corn demand by 250 million bushels.
World 2022-2023 corn production was pegged at 1,172 million metric tons, with Ukraine corn crop raised to 31.5 million metric tons and exports raised to 13 million metric tons, up 500,000 metric tons. The EU corn crop was cut to 58.8 million metric tons with imports unchanged at 19 million metric tons.
Smaller soybean crop caused the WASDE report to cut 2022-2023 U.S. soybean demand by 93 million bushels to 4,433 million bushels.
Wheat updates were mixed, Black Sea balance sheets continue to loosen while the non-Black Sea exporter balance sheet tightens. The report raised 2022 Russian output by 3 million metric tons to 91 million metric tons, and raised Ukrainian production by 1 million metric tons to 20.5 million metric tons. However, combined Russian and Ukrainian exports were left unchanged.
Non-Black Sea exporter wheat stocks were trimmed another 350,000 tons. Wheat feed consumption in Europe was raised a full 1 million metric tons.
U.S. 2022-2023 wheat end stock was left completely unchanged at 610 million bushels, and the export shipment data is so far aligned with the USDA's annual 825-million-bushel export forecast. The USDA will release final U.S. wheat production on Sept. 30. Ongoing uncertainty in the Black Sea sustains a wide-swing market.
Chicago-based research company AgResource holds that the harvest-yield reports will drive price direction over the next 30 days. The outlook leans positive into mid-autumn, but once U.S. crop sizes are known, a correction is probable unless adverse dryness continues in Central and Northern Brazil into late October. ■
