Corn, wheat, and soybean futures all ended lower on Tuesday, with wheat seeing the largest declines.
Much of the pressure on wheat was attributed to harvest pressure, with Monday's USDA crop progress report showing the American spring wheat harvest at 5% complete as of Sunday and the winter wheat harvest at 86% done. Improving weather for crops in Western Canada, as well as Argentina and Australia added to the pressure on wheat, as did weakness in corn. September Chicago lost 8 ½ cents to $5.08 ¼, and September Kansas City was down 12 ½ cents to $5.04 ½. September Chicago spring wheat fell 11 ¼ cents to $5.02, and September Minneapolis ended 2 ¾ cents lower at $5.70 ¼.
Expectations of a large US harvest continued to overhang corn. Monday’s crop progress report put the American crop at 73% good to excellent as of Sunday, unchanged from a week earlier but historically strong. September corn ended 5 ½ cents lower at $3.81 ½, and December dropped a nickel to $4.02.
Soybeans garnered some support from a drop in the national condition rating – down 1 point from a week earlier to 69% good to excellent – but concerns about export demand from China left the market in the red. September beans lost 3 ¾ cents to $9.71 ½, and November fell 3 ¾ cents to $9.90 ¾.
