The rains that have fallen in recent days have brought (some) relief to farmers, especially in the core production zone, which needed to improve its soil moisture profile in order for agricultors to finish the soybean and corn planting work and to facilitate good crop development. But not all the news is good, since Chicago market operators immediately removed the climate premium from grain prices. Thus, both the oilseed and the cereal closed on a downward trend this Monday, at their lowest value in two weeks.

The oilseed closed at US$547.6 for the March contract and US$546 for the May contract, which marks a decline of more than 1% compared to the previous session. Sources at Granar consultancy explained: “Soybean prices fell for the fourth consecutive day in Chicago. Some of the more relevant negative factors for the US market were the rains that have fallen since last Wednesday in a good portion of Argentina’s agricultural areas and the forecasts of new rainfall for the second half of this week, which would keep alleviating the effects of the prolonged water deficit that already caused major and inevitable losses over the harvest expectations”.

The progress of the soybean harvest in Brazil, which is on track to deliver more than 150 million tons, also exerted a downward influence. In this regard, AgRural consultants surveyed the harvesting progress over 1.8% of the planted area, compared with 4.7% at the same time in 2022 and the five-year average of 2.8%.