CBOT soybean, corn extend rallies; wheat futures ease
Traders weigh reports of plant stress in western Corn Belt
Wheat firms early in session, then turns lower
Funds show signs of reducing soybean short positions
Recasts with U.S. trading, adds analyst comments, updates pricing as of 1700 GMT
By P.J. Huffstutter
CHICAGO, July 23 (Reuters) -The price rally in Chicago Board of Trade soybean and corn futures extended into a second day on Tuesday, as traders began to focus on weather-related impacts on the U.S. crop and short-covering, market analysts said.
CBOT wheat futures briefly turned higher during the session, as hot and dry weather forecast for parts of Canada and the Black Sea region, along with poor harvest prospects in France lent support. But by mid-session, wheat futures turned lower.
The most-active CBOT soybean contract Sv1 was up 0.73% at $10.76-1/4 a bushel by 1700 GMT. CBOT corn Cv1 firmed 0.9% to $4.18-3/4 a bushel, while CBOT wheat Wv1 was down 0.46% to $5.45-1/2 a bushel.
On Monday, U.S. exporters sold 200,000 metric tons of corn to unknown destinations for delivery in the 2024/25 marketing year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported.
Large short positions built up during recent and sharp price drops in soybeans and grains have also left futures prone to rallies, market analysts said.
"The market got oversold," said Jack Scoville, analyst for The Price Futures Group, Inc. "The open positions are still pretty hefty, and I think they're going to have to reduce those levels."
Traders also are paying attention to reports from the western U.S. Corn Belt where fields are showing signs of plant stress, due to excessive rainfall during the spring and early summer.
"There are more and more questions about the quality of the crop out there," said Karl Setzer, partner at Consus Ag. "We're hearing reports of yellowing corn from fields being too wet, leaching out nutrients."
After the market closed on Monday, USDA reported that 67% of the U.S. corn crop was in good-to-excellent condition, down one point from a week ago but still the highest for the time of year since 2020.
Additional reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Peter Hobson in Canberra; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips, Mrigank Dhaniwala, Alexander Smith and Tomasz Janowski
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