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Argentina's Rosario exchange further cuts soy, corn
forecasts
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Dollar fall also underpins U.S. grain futures
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Wheat market assesses Black Sea grain risks
(Updates with European trading, changes byline/dateline)
By Gus Trompiz and Naveen Thukral
PARIS/SINGAPORE, April 13 (Reuters) - Chicago soybean
and corn futures rose to one-week highs on Thursday as a leading
forecaster made another sharp cut to the outlook for Argentina's
drought-affected crops.
A weaker dollar also lent support to Chicago futures.
Wheat eased, giving up some of the last session's gains, as
traders played down an immediate threat to Black Sea supply and
saw U.S. spring weather improving in most crop belts.
The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of
Trade (CBOT) was up 0.8% at $15.15-3/4 a bushel by 1102
GMT, after climbing earlier to its highest since April 5 at
$15.16.
CBOT corn added 0.3% to $6.57-3/4 a bushel, after also
touching a one-week high earlier. CBOT wheat lost 0.8% to
$6.74 a bushel.
Argentina's Rosario grains exchange on Wednesday further cut
its forecast for the 2022/2023 soybean harvest to 23 million
tonnes, down from the 27 million tonnes previously estimated, as
a historic drought pummels the country's agricultural sector.
That came after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on
Tuesday cut its own forecast for the Argentine soybean crop to
27 million tonnes.
"Argentina's crop growing areas continue to be dry, which is
reducing yields," a Singapore-based grains trader said.
The Rosario exchange also cut its forecast for Argentina's
corn output to 32 million tonnes from 35 million previously.
China's March soybean imports rose 8% from the same month a
year earlier, data showed on Thursday, bringing first quarter
arrivals to a record even as demand failed to pick up as
expected.
Grain markets will get an update on U.S. exports with weekly
data published by the USDA later on Thursday.
The Kremlin warned on Wednesday that the outlook for
extending a deal beyond May 18 that allows the safe wartime
export of grain and fertiliser from several Ukrainian Black Sea
ports was "not so great".
However, the continuation of corridor shipments for now,
along with large exports from Russia, were seen as tempering
short-term risks to export supply.
(Reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Naveen Thukral in
Singapore; Editing by Sonia Cheema, Kirsten Donovan)
