Prices stabilise after selloff triggered by weak US export data
Adds analyst comment, updates prices
CANBERRA, Dec 16 (Reuters) -Chicago wheat, corn and soybean futures steadied on Monday, after disappointing U.S. export data pushed prices of all three contracts lower at the end of last week.
Soybeans gained despite the looming prospect of a huge Brazilian harvest early next year.
The most-active corn contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) <Cv1> was up 0.1% at $4.42-1/2 a bushel, as of 0243 GMT.
CBOT soybeans <Sv1> were up 0.4% at $9.92-1/2 a bushel and wheat <Wv1> was unchanged at $5.52-1/4 a bushel.
All three contracts fell to four-year lows earlier this year due to plentiful supply and have - with the recent exception of corn - failed to regain much ground since.
After multiple weeks of impressive volumes, U.S. corn and soybean export sales last week were a disappointment.
Growing uncertainty over China's import needs going into next year also weighed on grain and oilseed markets, with China's statistics bureau saying total grain production reached a record of more than 700 million tons in 2024.
CBOT corn last week touched its highest level since June after the U.S. Department of Agriculture cut its estimate for U.S. end-of-season stocks. Higher corn prices helped lift wheat, since both grains are used as animal feed.
But profit-taking kicked in by the end of the week, with speculators selling CBOT corn, wheat and soy on Friday, traders said.
Despite the USDA cut to U.S. ending stocks, analysts at JPMorgan said their global outlook balances for 2025/26 showed critical lows in world Ex-China wheat and corn inventories, limiting price downside.
However, they said in a research note, "U.S. grain, soybean and cotton availability remains comfortable, likely containing the extent of price recovery in the absence of a major improvement in domestic or export demand."
Cold continues to pose a latent risk to poorly established wheat crops in the U.S., Ukraine and Russia but that risk is fading as snow cover starts to accumulate, independent analyst Tobin Gorey said.
"Brazil's soybean crops continue to enjoy an excellent start," he said. "Crop estimates are hefty enough to continue weighing on soybean prices."
Reporting by Peter Hobson; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips
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