SINGAPORE/PARIS: Chicago wheat futures slid for a third consecutive session on Monday to hit a near one-week low, with lack of demand for US shipments amid abundant global supplies weighing on the market.
Soybeans rose for a second session, underpinned by slow selling by Brazilian farmers while corn was stable to slightly higher, snapping two sessions of gains.
The Chicago Board of Trade most-active wheat contract lost 0.7 percent to $4.44-3/4 a bushel by 1115 GMT, its lowest since Feb. 17. Wheat closed down 1.2 percent on Friday.
Soybeans rose 0.2 percent to $10.26 a bushel, having firmed 1.3 percent on Friday. Corn was unchanged at $3.64 after closing down 0.4 percent in the previous session.
Wheat is under pressure from rising global supply which is increasing competition for US wheat.
Argentina will likely harvest a record 18.3 million tonnes of wheat from the 2016/17 crop, 11 million to 11.5 million tonnes of which could be exported, Agriculture Minister Ricardo Buryaile said.
In Ukraine, farmers will start the 2017 spring grain sowing in a few days, expecting to sow a total of 7.2 million hectares of various spring grains, up from around 7.0 million last year, the agriculture ministry said on Monday.
The US government projected a 7 percent decline in corn production in the 2017/18 marketing year to 14.065 billion bushels, but ending stocks were expected to remain burdensome at more than 2 billion bushels.
The soybean market is finding support as farmers in Brazil have slowed sales of their record-large crop after prices dropped last week to their lowest since Jan. 12.
"Market chatter has been focused on the fact that Brazilian farmers have been more patient soybean sellers this season," said Tobin Gorey, director of agricultural strategy, Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
"Wet weather has also slowed loading at ports."
Funds appeared to be trimming big net long, or bought, positions built up in recent weeks.
Weekly data from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed non-commercial traders in the week to Feb. 14 built their biggest net long since July in corn, and the second-biggest since July in soybeans.
Comments
Comments are closed.