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Chicago wheat, corn, soybeans retreat on profit-taking

Xinhua, March 31, 2016 Adjust font size:

Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) wheat, corn and soybean futures closed lower Wednesday as investors took their profits following the recent big gains despite a weaker U.S. dollar, which are expected to support dollar-denominated commodities.

Chicago wheat led the losses as the most active wheat contract for May delivery lost 12.75 cents, or 2.67 percent, to close at 4.64 U.S. dollars per bushel. May corn delivery slid 6 cents, or 1.61 percent, to close at 3.67 U.S. dollars per bushel. Soybean for May delivery shed 7 cents, or 0.76 percent, to close at 9.09 dollars per bushel.

Wheat prices fell sharply Wednesday amid easing concerns about dry weather in the wheat belt in southern U.S. Plains. The global forecast system suggested there will be soaking rain across the drier areas of the U.S. Plains in 15 days.

Chicago corn pulled back from an over-3 month high after the weekly ethanol production report released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration Wednesday showed a slight drop in production and a big rise in inventory which was seen as bearish to corn future.

U.S. ethanol production through the week ending March 25 was down 0.3 percent from the prior week to 992,000 barrels per day, while U.S. ethanol stocks increased by 2.2 percent through the week, and were over 12 percent larger than a year ago.

May soybean stepped back Wednesday from its more than 7-month highs, giving back all previous gains, as analysts widely expected data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to show that domestic farmers plan to sow more soybeans this year despite huge supplies in the U.S..

The USDA will release its grain stock report on Thursday, which is expected to show record or near record stocks of U.S. corn, soybean and wheat as of March 1.

The declines in CBOT grains and soybeans were capped by a lower U.S. dollar for the day. The U.S. Dollar Index, a measure of the dollar against six major currencies, lost more than 0.5 percent after Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen stressed that the central bank will take a cautious approach to future rate hikes. Enditem