Soybeans set for weekly gain on S.American dryness; wheat down

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SINGAPORE — Chicago soybean futures eased

on Friday, though the market was on track for a weekly gain as

adverse weather conditions in Brazil and Argentina curbed the

prospect of strong production, while wheat was poised for a

second weekly decline.

FUNDAMENTALS

* The Most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of

Trade (CBOT) was down 0.2% at $13.84-1/2 a bushel, as of

0242 GMT. For the week, soybeans are up more than 3%.

* Wheat lost 3.6% this week, while corn has added

almost 2% to its value.

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* A drought in southern Brazil and increasingly hot and dry

conditions in Argentina have put attention on potential yield

losses for soybean and corn crops in the major exporting

countries.

* Brazilian soybean prices have climbed past last year’s

highs as hopes for another record harvest are dashed by dry

weather in southern states, agribusiness consultancy AgRural

said on Thursday, as it cut its crop outlook by 11 million

tonnes.

* AgRural now sees Brazil’s 2021/22 soybean crop at 133.4

million tonnes, down from an earlier forecast of 144.7 million.

Brazil’s last crop cycle produced a record 137.3 million tonnes

of soybeans, the firm said.

* Most of Argentina’s agricultural region will be hit in the

coming days by a heatwave accompanied by little or no rainfall,

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adding pressure to adverse conditions that its corn and soybean

crops have suffered for weeks, the Buenos Aires Grains Exchange

said on Thursday.

* World food prices jumped 28% in 2021 to their highest

level in a decade and hopes for a return to more stable market

conditions this year are slim, the U.N.’s food agency said on

Thursday.

* Private exporters reported a daily sale of 102,000 tonnes

of soybeans to Mexico, although weekly export sales were near

the bottom or below trade expectations for nearly all

commodities.

* For the week ended Dec. 30, soybean export sales of

449,800 tonnes were a marketing year low, while corn exports of

256,000 tonnes were 81% lower than the previous four weeks and

wheat exports of 51,100 tonnes were also the lowest of the

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marketing year.

MARKETS NEWS

* Wall Street’s headache over the potential of a relatively

fast pullback from stimulus by the U.S. Federal Reserve lingered

Thursday as stocks sold off again and government bond yields

mostly marched higher.

DATA/EVENTS (GMT)

0700 UK Halifax House Prices MM Dec

0700 Germany Industrial Output MM Nov

0745 France Reserve Assets Total Dec

1000 EU HICP Flash YY Dec

1000 EU HICP-X F&E Flash YY Dec

1000 EU Consumer Confid. Final Dec

1330 US Non-Farm Payrolls Dec

1330 US Unemployment Rate Dec

1330 US Average Earnings YY Dec

(Reporting by Naveen Thukral; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)