US soy, corn futures fall on crop progress, weak dollar limit loss

Chicago new-crop soy and corn futures fell on Tuesday (Jul 21), weighed down by near-perfect growing conditions in the US Midwest, while old-crop soy was little changed after two straight days of gains on tight supplies.

Optimism over a global economic recovery, which pressured the US dollar and supported crude oil prices, prevented a sharp decline in the grain markets.

Asian stocks climbed to a 10-month peak after upbeat corporate earnings reassured investors that a recovery was taking root in the US economy, prompting a further shift into riskier assets and away from the safe-haven dollar.

Pollination is starting in the US corn belt and will run through the end of July. The pollination phase is the key factor in determining yields for corn in the US, the world's top producer and exporter of grains used for livestock and poultry feed around the world.

Chicago Board of Trade November soy fell 0.43 percent, or 4 cents, to US$9.19 a bushel and old-crop August contract fell 1 cent to US$10.32 a bushel.

September corn fell 0.9 percent to US$3.20-½ a bushel and wheat for September delivery lost 0.09 percent to US$5.41-¾ a bushel.

China, the world's top soy buyer, will put on sale on Thursday (Jul 23) 500,000 tonnes of soy from state reserves, which many analysts believe is unlikely to yield much result, given the higher offer price.

China's corn reserve sale which began on Tuesday (Jul 21), had little success in the early hours. The Heilongjiang province sold 53,200 tonnes of corn in the first stage of the auction of state reserves, only 13.3 percent of the total on offer.

The dollar hovered near a six-week low against a basket of currencies while the yen edged up against other majors after dropping sharply in holiday-hit trade the previous day.