GRAINS-Soybean, corn futures sag after USDA reports

By Julie Ingwersen

CHICAGO, June 30 (Reuters) - Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures turned lower on Monday after quarterly stocks data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture showed larger-than-expected supplies as of June 1, analysts said.

Corn futures declined on strong U.S. crop conditions and adequate supplies while wheat futures fell in choppy trade, paring losses after hitting their lowest price since mid-May.

As of 12:59 p.m. CDT (1759 GMT), CBOT August soybeans SQ25 were down 1-1/2 cents at $10.31-3/4 per bushel. September corn CU25 was down 3 cents at $4.08-1/2 a bushel and September wheat WU25 was unchanged at $5.40-3/4 a bushel.

Soybeans retreated after the USDA reported U.S. June 1 stockpiles of the oilseed at 1.008 billion bushels, while analysts surveyed by Reuters on average had expected 980 million bushels.

"The bean stocks being as big as they are was the big surprise," said Jack Scoville, vice president with the Price Futures Group.

The USDA's June 1 wheat stocks figure of 851 million bushels was also above most analysts' estimates while June 1 corn stocks at 4.644 billion bushels were near the average estimate.

The government trimmed its estimate of U.S. corn plantings for 2025 to 95.2 million acres, down its March 31 forecast of 95.3 million acres, but still up 5% from 2024. The USDA reported soybean plantings at 83.4 million acres, down from its March forecast of 83.5 million acres and down 4% from last year.

Still, decent U.S. crop conditions anchored futures prices by signalling strong yield prospects. Ahead of the USDA's weekly crop progress report, analysts surveyed by Reuters on average expected the agency to rate 70% of the U.S. corn crop in good to excellent condition, steady with last week and the best for this time of the season in five years.

Analysts expected the USDA to rate 67% of the soybean crop as good to excellent, up 1 percentage point from last week.

Warm weather and favourable rains have created ideal growing conditions for soybeans and corn in the U.S. Midwest, while farmers in Brazil are expected to harvest a bumper second corn crop.