Wheat eases for 4th session on demand concerns; corn flat

SINGAPORE: Chicago wheat futures slid for a fourth consecutive session on Wednesday, weighed down by worries over demand for agricultural products following a recent rally in prices.

Corn and soybeans were little changed.

"Prices have gone up a lot and now we are seeing the impact on demand," said one Singapore-based trader. "Buyers are reluctant to lock deals at current price levels."

The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) fell 0.2% to $7.21 a bushel, as of 0351 GMT. In August, wheat futures climbed to their highest in more than eight years.

Corn was unchanged at $5.34-1/4 a bushel and soybeans lost 0.1% to $12.91-1/4 a bushel.

Hurricane Ida damaged a grain export elevator owned by global grain trader Cargill Inc and rival shipper CHS Inc warned on Monday its grain facility may lack power for weeks after the storm tore through the busiest US grains port.

The US Department of Agriculture rated 60% of the US corn crop in good-to-excellent condition in its weekly crop progress report on Monday, unchanged from the previous week, while analysts surveyed by Reuters on average had expected a 1-point decline.

Russian agriculture consultancy Sovecon said on Tuesday it had cut its forecast for Russia's 2021 wheat crop to 75.4 million tonnes from 76.2 million tonnes because of low spring wheat yields.

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