BS: Soy, Wheat Decline as Dollar Gains, Reducing Appeal U.S. Crops
By Sungwoo Park and Luzi Ann Javier
March 11 (Bloomberg) -- Soybeans and wheat declined in Chicago on speculation a stronger dollar may reduce the appeal of U.S. crop supplies to investors and importers.
Soybeans for May delivery lost as much as 0.8 percent to $9.505 a bushel before trading at $9.5375 at 3:07 p.m. Singapore time. Wheat for May delivery fell 0.3 percent to $4.80 a bushel.
The Dollar Index, which tracks the value of the greenback against six major currencies, rose 0.1 percent to 80.523 after China’s inflation reached a 16-month high, industrial output climbed and new loans exceeded forecasts, raising concern the world’s third-largest economy may raise interest rates.
“The influence of the dollar is huge on these grains,” Ben Barber, a futures adviser at Bell Commodities Ltd. said from Sydney. Investors may be moving their money into the dollar and away from commodities, damping grain and oilseed prices, he said. “A lot of it has to do with speculative money.”
Soybean prices may drop to $8.50 a bushel in May or June as global output expands, Oil World Executive Director Thomas Mielke said at a palm oil conference in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture raised its estimate on global soybean output this year to 255.9 million tons yesterday, from 255.02 million tons a month earlier, boosting the ending stockpiles. The estimate was raised as the USDA increased its forecast on the Brazil crop to 67 million tons, from 66 million tons, while paring its outlook on the crops in India.
The USDA estimate on the Brazilian crop compares with the South American nation’s forecast of 67.6 million tons on March 9.
Corn rose for the first time in six sessions on concern that cold, wet weather last month may hamper planting work in the U.S., the world’s largest exporter.
Corn Inventories
Corn for May delivery rose as much 0.7 percent, to $3.68 a bushel in Chicago and traded at $3.6575 at 3:05 p.m. Singapore time. The price fell to a one-month low yesterday after the U.S. government said inventories before this year’s harvest will be bigger than forecast.
“Corn may not fall any further as investors may start buying on concern over delayed planting,” said Han Sung Min, a broker at Korea Exchange Bank Futures Co. in Seoul. “The focus of the market is now moving on to planting and new crop.”
Average temperatures last month were 8 degrees Fahrenheit lower than normal and rainfall in Texas was more than double the normal average, Texas AgriLife said March 9 in a report.
The cold, wet weather “puts us well behind the eight-ball, both in soil temperatures and, of course, in fields being too wet to get into,” Travis Miller, head of the Texas A&M University soil and crop sciences department, said in the report.
“It’s all that eastern side of the state that’s running late,” Miller said. “They haven’t hit normal planting dates in the High Plains.”
--Editors: Matthew Oakley, Ravil Shirodkar.
To contact the reporter on this story: Luzi Ann Javier in Singapore at ljavier@bloomberg.net; Sungwoo Park in Seoul at spark47@bloomberg.net;
To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Poole at jpoole4@bloomberg.net
