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Chicago agricultural commodities settle mixed

Xinhua, September 13, 2016 Adjust font size:

Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) grains futures close mixed Monday, with corn and soybean futures falling, while wheat futures rising.

The most active corn contract for December delivery fell 1.5 cents, or 0.44 percent, to 3.395 dollars per bushel. December wheat delivery rose 5.75 cents, or 1.43 percent, to 4.0925 dollars per bushel. November soybeans edged down 16 cents, or 1.63 percent, to 9.6425 dollars per bushel.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Monday projected farmers this fall will collect a record 15.09 billion bushels of corn and 4.2 billion bushels of soybeans, topping analyst expectations and pressuring futures prices for the crops.

The record haul could spell more trouble for farmers straining to cut costs and bunker grain amid a third straight year of falling prices for some crops.

"The soybean figure was eye popping and suggests that the big bean crop continues to get bigger," said Don Roose, president of U.S. Commodities, a brokerage firm in the state of Iowa.

The huge haul is the result of benevolent weather including ample rainfall that blessed much of the Midwest in August, the key month for determining soybean yields.

On Monday, it took precedence for traders over a sizable bump in soybean exports for the 2015-16 season, a sign of voracious foreign demand for U.S. supplies of the oilseeds.

Corn prices also declined after the USDA trimmed its projection for output of that crop, but by less than analysts had anticipated.

The USDA pegged world wheat stockpiles at the end of the 2015-16 season at 240.9 million metric tons while reserves the following season are seen at 249.1 million tons. Both figures are lower than those projected by the government last month.

Federal forecasters left untouched their projection for U.S. wheat reserves of 1.1 billion bushels at the end of the 2016-17 season.

That leaves domestic growers with little hope for a prolonged price surge unless bad weather strikes a rival's crop abroad, said Brian Roach, president of Roach Ag Marketing Ltd. Endit