CHICAGO, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) agricultural futures closed mixed on Wednesday, with corn and wheat falling and soybean rising.
The most active corn contract for May delivery fell 8.75 cents, or 1.38 percent, to settle at 6.255 U.S. dollars per bushel. May wheat lost 10.5 cents, or 1.5 percent, to settle at 6.875 dollars per bushel. May soybean rose 2.25 cents, or 0.15 percent, to settle at 15.1775 dollars per bushel.
The March report of World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimate (WASDE) released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Wednesday cut its estimate of Argentine soybean production by 8 million metric tons to 33 million metric tons, and lowered corn by 7 million metric tons to 40 million metric tons. In total, Argentine summer row crop production fell by 15 million metric tons, a record for both crops combined.
Brazil's soybean harvest was left at 153 million metric tons, which means the world soybean end stocks were pulled down to 100 million metric tons, just one million metric tons above last year. The smaller Argentine crop will boost U.S. 2022-2023 soybean exports and drop stocks to pipeline levels amid record crush margins.
USDA March Crop Report lowered U.S. 2022-2023 corn exports by 75 million bushels to 1,850 million bushels, and raised soybean exports by 25 million bushels to 2,015 million bushels. U.S. 2022-2023 soybean crush rate was cut by 10 million bushels to 2,220 million bushels, with the 2022-2023 soybean end stocks at 210 billion bushels. The 2022-2023 U.S. end stocks of corn and wheat are estimated at 1,342 billion bushels and 568 billion bushels, respectively.
The report estimated 2022-2023 U.S. corn production at 13,730 billion bushels and soybean production at 4,276 billion bushels.
World wheat data leans bearish. Australian wheat production was lifted another million tons to a record 39 million metric tons, while Australian wheat exports were raised only 0.5 million metric tons. Kazakhstan's 2022 wheat crop was increased an unexpected 2.4 million metric tons or 17 percent to 16 million metric tons. However, WASDE report lowered carrying wheat stocks by 5 million metric tons, thus lowering 2022-2023 world wheat stocks to just 267.2 million metric tons, the lowest since 2016-2017 crop year.
The report estimated 2022-2023 world corn end stocks at 296.48 million metric tons.
The big question is how low is low for Argentine corn and soybean production. The Argentine agricultural economy is in shambles amid 2 years of drought. Chicago-based research company AgResource doubts that CBOT breaks can be sustained. ■
