Wheat futures post modest gain on US Plains dryness, global supply weighs

BEIJING: Chicago wheat futures edged higher on Tuesday as dry conditions in the US Plains and rising tensions in the Black Sea export region supported prices under pressure from ample global supplies.

The most-active wheat contract on the CBOT (Wv1) rose 0.05 percent to USD5.12-3/4 a bushel by 0415 GMT. Corn (Cv1) gained 0.17percent to USD4.45-1/4 a bushel, and soybeans (Sv1) added 0.28percent to USD10.65 a bushel. Wheat, soybeans and corn extended gains for a second consecutive session as traders returned from year-end holidays and assessed crop weather.

Last Friday, soybeans and wheat reached their lowest levels since late October, while corn hit a two-week low. “Pockets of dryness in the US Plains lent support to wheat,” said Josh Lawrence, advisory consultant at IKON Commodities.

“Still, gains were limited by ample supplies from major exporting countries.” Traders also kept a close watch on the Black Sea export corridor. On Monday, Russia launched five missile strikes on Ukraine’s Kharkiv, damaging energy infrastructure, and attacked an enterprise owned by US agricultural producer Bunge in the southeastern city of Dnipro, Ukrainian officials said.

In Ukraine, exports of key agricultural commodities fell to 3.28 million metric tons in December from 3.58 million tons in November, primarily due to smaller shipments of wheat and soybeans, said traders’ union UGA on Monday.

Weekly US export demand signals were mixed. The US Department of Agriculture said net US corn export sales fell to 756,419 metric tons in the week ended December 25, 2025, the lowest since early September, while net US soybean export sales rose to 1,244,136 tons, up 27 percent from a week earlier.