BLBG:Soybeans Head for Six-Week High as Argentine Crop Seen Smaller
Soybeans gained toward a six-week high on speculation that hot and dry weather in Argentina will reduce the harvest in the world’s third-largest exporter.
The contract for March delivery advanced as much as 0.7 percent to $14.85 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade and was at $14.815 by 10:49 a.m. Singapore time. Futures reached $14.865 a bushel on Feb. 1, the highest level since Dec. 18. Prices climbed 2.3 percent last week for a fourth straight gain, the longest winning run since the period ended Dec. 14.
This year’s soybean harvest in Argentina may be at 52.9 million metric tons, according to the average of estimates of 23 analysts in a Bloomberg survey, less than the 54 million tons forecast by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which will update its estimates on Feb. 8.
“It’s really the fear that that number could get even smaller,” Victor Thianpiriya, an agricultural analyst at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., said by phone from Singapore. “There isn’t a lot of confidence in the outlook for a dramatic change in the weather.”
Another extended period of dry weather with hot temperatures redeveloping is forecast in Argentina, DTN said in a report on Feb. 1. Stress to corn and soybeans in southern Brazil remains high due to more than three weeks of dry and sometimes hot weather while rains continue to hit parts of Mato Grosso and Goias, probably delaying the harvest progress, the forecaster said. Brazil is set to be the world’s biggest exporter of soybeans this year, ahead of the U.S.
Brazil will harvest 70.3 million tons of corn in the year that began July 1, up from 66.2 million tons estimated last month and 73 million tons collected a year earlier, researcher Informa Economics Inc. said Feb. 1 in a report to clients.
Corn for March delivery gained 0.2 percent to $7.375 a bushel. Wheat for delivery in the same month was also little changed at $7.66 a bushel.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ranjeetha Pakiam in Kuala Lumpur at rpakiam@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Poole at jpoole4@bloomberg.net
