GRAINS-Soybeans fall on robust dollar, Chinese demand aims to limit losses

By abbasanwarinfo Last updated Nov 13, 2022

SINGAPORE, 14 November (Reuters) -Prices for Chicago soybeans went down on Monday because of a strong dollar. However, China’s decision to ease some COVID-19 restrictions raised hopes that the country, which buys the most soybeans of any country, would buy more of them.

Corn prices went down a little bit while wheat prices went down after closing higher on Friday. This was because of uncertainty about supplies from the Black Sea region.

“The market got some good news about demand when China said it would loosen some of its COVID rules,” Hightower wrote in a report.

As of 3:32 GMT, the most-traded soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), Sv1, had dropped by 0.4% to $14.44 per bushel. Wheat Wv1 fell 0.5% to $8.09-3/4 per bushel, and corn CV1 fell 0.4% to $6.55-1/2 per bushel.

On Friday, China cut the quarantine for close contact with infected people and for people coming into the country by two days. They also got rid of a penalty for airlines that brought in too many cases. Even though the markets were happy about the loosening of restrictions, experts warned that reopening was likely still a long way off.

After taking a big hit last week, the U.S. dollar stayed strong on Monday. Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said that the central bank would not stop fighting inflation. USD/

When the dollar gets stronger, goods priced in dollars become more expensive for people who buy them in other currencies.

Because Russia invaded Ukraine, there was still a lot of uncertainty about grain exports from Ukraine.

A U.N. spokesperson said that top UN officials met with a Russian delegation in Geneva on Friday to talk about Moscow’s problems with the Black Sea grains export initiative and the need for unhindered exports of food and fertilizer.

The talks are happening eight days before the U.N. and Turkey are supposed to renew the deal they made in July. The agreement has kept the world from going into a food crisis by letting food and fertilizers be shipped out of several of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.

The Rosario Grains Exchange said on Friday that Argentina’s wheat exports this season won’t even reach half of what they were last season. Only 7 million metric tons are expected to leave the country because months of dry weather cut the 2022–2023 harvest in half.

The cost of food imports around the world is on track to reach a new high of nearly $2 trillion in 2022. This will put more pressure on the world’s poorest countries, which likely shipped in a lot less food at that time, the U.N. Food Agency said on Friday.

After Russia invaded Ukraine, a major producer of grains and oilseeds, food prices around the world went through the roof in March. They have gone down a bit since then, but they are still higher than they were last year.

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