By Kirk Maltais

 

--Wheat for September delivery fell 2.7% to $5.07 3/4 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade on Monday as better-than-expected weather following a weekend tropical storm was bearish for futures.

--Corn for December delivery fell 2.5% to $4.47 a bushel.

--Soybeans for November delivery fell 1.2% to $9.20 a bushel.

 

HIGHLIGHTS

 

Barry's Not Scary: Agricultural futures fell as Tropical Storm Barry didn't deliver on expectations of rising river levels and other excessive rain in certain areas over the weekend - a bearish indicator for grains futures. "Flooding rains have missed key producing areas," said AgResource.

GDP Woes: News of Chinese GDP growth hitting a 27-year low was also bearish -- particularly for soybeans, which has been the most responsive to global trade issues. The Chinese GDP growth rate fell to 6.2% for the April-June quarter, the lowest since 1992. Hopes for a U.S.-China trade deal and the reintroduction of big Chinese buying has been a main factor fueling grains futures movement.

 

INSIGHT

 

Looking Forward: Futures have failed to move decisively in either direction since vaulting higher in May and much of June. Prices are likely to remain range-bound until the USDA publishes the next World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates on Aug. 12, Garrett Toay of First Choice Commodities says. The report will include the Department's new estimates of how much land U.S. farmers have planted. The June acreage report was met with disbelief by many traders and analysts.

Some Good News: Inspections of soybeans for export total 854,373 metric tons, according to USDA data. This figure exceeded predictions made by analysts, Terry Reilly of Futures International said. China again is the biggest destination for U.S. soybeans inspected by federal officials, with some 16.9 million bushels inspected, the USDA says. However, soybeans futures showed little movement on this news.

 

AHEAD

 

-The EIA releases its weekly update on ethanol production and inventories at 10:30 a.m. ET Wednesday.

-The USDA will release its latest weekly export sales numbers at 8:30 a.m. EDT Thursday.

 

Joe Wallace contributed to this article.

 

Write to Kirk Maltais at Kirk.Maltais@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 15, 2019 16:28 ET (20:28 GMT)

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