Wheat eases after 2-session rally, market eyes US weather

SINGAPORE: Chicago wheat futures edged lower on Thursday, easing from a one-month high touched in the previous session, with focus on adverse weather across a key US producing region which could reduce yields.

Soybeans dipped after gaining for the last two sessions while corn was largely unchanged.

The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board Of Trade gave up 0.4 percent to $4.34-1/4 a bushel by 0348 GMT after hitting its highest since Dec. 4 at $4.37 a bushel on Wednesday.

Soybeans fell 0.1 percent to $9.67-1/2 a bushel, having firmed 0.4 percent on Wednesday and corn was unchanged at $3.53 a bushel.

The wheat market has drawn support amid sub-zero temperatures across the US Plains and as forecasts for continued dryness raised the prospect of a reduced harvest.

The US Agriculture Department said on Tuesday afternoon that winter wheat in Kansas, the state that is the biggest producer of the grain, was rated 37 percent good to excellent, down from 51 percent at the end of November.

A year ago, the state's winter wheat crop was rated 44 percent good to excellent.

"It is extremely cold in US Plains and it is causing concerns about the crop," said one India-based agricultural commodities analyst at an international bank.

"But there is a lot of inventory worldwide, so there is no immediate concern about supplies."

The soybean market was underpinned by dry weather in the world's third largest supplier Argentina.

Argentina's bread-basket province of Buenos Aires will remain mostly dry in the days ahead, meteorologists said on Tuesday, after reporting scant rain over the weekend.

Commodity funds were net buyers of CBOT soybean, soyoil, wheat and soymeal futures contracts on Wednesday. They were net sellers of corn, traders said.