Soybeans Fall After Oil Decline; Wheat, Corn Rebound From Lows

By Jae Hur and Sungwoo Park

Sept. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Soybeans dropped after a tumble in crude oil yesterday reduced demand prospects for biofuels made from the crop, while wheat gained after touching a one-year low. Corn also gained from a four-week low.

Oil plunged as much as 4.3 percent yesterday to the lowest since April 2. Before today, oil had fallen 30 percent from its record on July 11, while corn dropped 32 percent from an all- time high in June and soybeans fell 27 percent from a July record.

``A weaker crude oil price has put pressure on corn and soybeans today,'' Hiroyuki Kikukawa, general manager of research at IDO Securities Co., said from Tokyo. ``Fundamentals for the two U.S. crops have not changed much as they are close to harvest, but external factors such as the dollar and crude oil are dictating their direction in recent trading.''

Soybeans for November delivery declined as much as 18.75 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $11.8225 a bushel, before trading at at $11.9975 at 5:10 p.m. in Singapore. The contract touched $11.57 yesterday, the lowest since April 1.

Corn for December delivery lost as much as 6.75 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $5.3775 a bushel in after-hours electronic trading on the Chicago Board of Trade before rebounding 0.6 percent to $5.4775. The contract yesterday touched $5.31, the lowest since Aug. 13.

U.S. Forecast

``Most investors will stay on the sidelines before the U.S. Department of Agriculture's monthly report on Friday,'' Kikukawa said. The U.S. government is to release its second survey-based production forecasts for corn and soybeans on Sept. 12.

The dollar traded at $1.4151 per euro at 5:13 p.m. in Singapore after reaching $1.4047 yesterday, the strongest since Oct. 9. Crude oil for October delivery traded up 0.7 percent at $103.95 a barrel after falling as low as $101.74 yesterday.

Wheat for December delivery rose 1.1 percent to $7.385 a bushel after earlier falling by the same amount to $7.2275. Yesterday it fell as low as $7.19, the lowest for a most-active contract since Aug. 29, 2007.

In the physical market, Egypt plans to buy at least 55,000 metric tons of wheat today and Japan is seeking 107,000 tons of U.S. milling wheat at a tender tomorrow.

To contact the reporters responsible for this story: Jae Hur in Singapore at jhur1@bloomberg.net; Sungwoo Park at spark47@bloomberg.net