GRAINS-Chicago futures end lower as weather clears to make way for planting

By Cassandra Garrison

MEXICO CITY, April 5 (Reuters) – Chicago corn futures closed lower on Wednesday after a day of ups and downs on improved weather outlooks for planting season in the United States and market readjustments from technically oversold positions, traders said.

The prospect of a drier, warmer spell boosting spring field work in the northern farm belt that was hit by snow this week took attention away from poor conditions for drought-affected winter wheat in the southern Plains.

Still, traders were eyeing how much of an improvement was on the horizon.

“There is a warming trend coming which would facilitate the snow melt, but it still remains to be seen how fast the snow melt is going to be,” said Tom Fritz, a partner with EFG Group in Chicago.

The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Wv1 settled down 9-1/2 cents at $6.82 per bushel.

CBOT corn Cv1 closed down 1 cent at $6.52-3/4 per bushel , while CBOT soybeans Sv1 settled down 6-1/2 cents at $15.11 per bushel.

Argentina’s government announced a new plan setting a special exchange rate of 300 pesos per dollar to encourage soybean exports amid severe financial difficulties and foreign exchange shortages.

The program, known locally as the “soy dollar,” will run from April 8 to May 31.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed private sales of 125,000 tonnes of U.S. corn and 276,000 tonnes of U.S. soybeans to unknown destinations for delivery in the 2022/23 marketing year.

The fading of a crude oil rally and investor concerns about the economic outlook capped grain prices as participants adjusted positions in the run-up to the Easter holiday weekend. MKTS/GLOB

South American crops also remained a focus, with a bumper Brazilian soybean harvest expected to offset a drought-hit Argentine crop.

(Reporting by Cassandra Garrison in Mexico City, Gus Trompiz in Paris and Enrico Dela Cruz in Manila; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips, Sharon Singleton, Paul Simao and Sandra Maler)

((Cassandra.garrison@thomsonreuters.com))

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