CHICAGO, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) agricultural futures closed mixed on Monday, with corn falling and wheat and soybean rising slightly.
The most active corn contract for December delivery fell 6.25 cents, or 0.91 percent, to settle at 6.835 U.S. dollars per bushel. December wheat rose 1.25 cents, or 0.15 percent, to settle at 8.61 dollars per bushel. November soybean gained 1.5 cents, or 0.11 percent, to settle at 13.8525 dollars per bushel.
Corn sagged on the prospects of growing tonnages of Australian feed wheat, and wheat rose on tightening supply of milling wheat due to drought in Argentina and now the flood in Australia. Trade volume has improved from late last week. Chicago-based research company AgResource holds that strong rallies remain selling opportunities.
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) export inspections for the week ending Oct. 13 were 17.6 million bushels of corn, 69.1 million bushels of soybeans and 8.5 million bushels of wheat. China was the big soybean importer of nearly 50 million bushels or 72 percent of the total.
For respective marketing years to date, exporters have shipped 129 million bushels of corn, down 21 percent year on year; 172 million bushels of soybeans, down 23 percent; and 344 million bushels of wheat, unchanged from mid-October 2021.
The National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA) member crush in September totaled 158.1 million bushels, up 4.3 million bushels from last year but down 3.4 million bushels from 2020 and slightly below the trade's average guess. NOPA soy oil stocks on Sept. 30 totaled 1.46 billion pounds, as against 1.57 billion pounds in August and 1.68 billion pounds a year ago.
Rainfall has shifted northward into the Arkansas, Missouri and Illinois. River levels across the mid-Mississippi will be increasing. Extreme drought remains intact across the hard red winter (HRW) belt.
Confidence is rising with respect to needed moisture relief in Argentina during the second half of October. Southern Brazil gets rain this week.
