Wheat eases after strong rally, supply worries cap losses

SINGAPORE: Chicago wheat futures ticked lower on Wednesday, easing from a near one-week high touched in the previous session, although global supply concerns amid strong demand limited the losses.

Corn rose for a second session, while soybeans bounced back.

"Wheat futures are down but tightness in supplies is supportive in the physical market," said Ole Houe, director of advisory services at brokerage IKON Commodities in Sydney.

The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) lost 0.4% to $6.97-3/4 a bushel by 0210 GMT, having closed 2% higher on Tuesday when prices hit a Sept. 9 high of $7.01-1/2 a bushel.

Soybeans were up 0.3% at $12.86-3/4 a bushel and corn added 0.7% to $5.23-3/4 a bushel.

France cut its estimate of soft wheat production in the European Union's biggest grain grower by more than 600,000 tonnes to 36.06 million tonnes, citing wet summer weather.

Canada's drought conditions damaged the wheat harvest even more than it appeared weeks ago, according to a Statistics Canada report estimating spring wheat output at 15.3 million tonnes, down 41% year over year.

US wheat rises to 8-1/2-year highs on world supply worries

US winter wheat was 12% planted, as of Sept. 5, up from 5% last week, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said.

The USDA rated 58% of the US corn crop in good-to-excellent condition in its weekly crop conditions report, down 1 percentage point from the previous week.

Soybean ratings were unchanged at 57% good-to-excellent. Analysts surveyed by Reuters on average had expected no change for either crop.

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