Wheat continues rally to 1-month high on low US supply

PARIS/CANBERRA: Chicago wheat extended gains on Friday to a one-month high as the market reacted to official data pegging US wheat stocks at a 14-year low.

Corn edged higher as support from wheat countered pressure from a bigger than expected estimate of US corn supplies in the US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) quarterly stocks report on Thursday.

Soybeans edged lower, trading near a nine-month low, after the USDA also put stocks of the oilseed above average market expectations.

The most active wheat futures on the Chicago Board Of Trade were up 1.6% at $7.37-1/4 a bushel by 1053 GMT.

It earlier reached its highest since Aug. 30 at $7.39-1/2 as it added to a 2.1% jump on Thursday.

The USDA's estimate of wheat stocks on Sept. 1, as well as a separate estimate of 2021 US wheat production, both came in below the average analyst forecast in a Reuters poll.

CBOT Trends; Soybeans up, corn up, wheat steady-up

"The USDA's latest wheat production and inventory estimates were the catalyst for the gains," said Tobin Gorey, director of agricultural strategy, Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

In Europe, benchmark December wheat on Euronext rose as much as 2.5% to a contract high of 264.50 euros ($306.40) a tonne, as the US supply data added to support from a weaker euro and brisk export demand for European wheat, traders said.

CBOT corn was up 0.2% at $5.38 a bushel, after closing slightly lower on Thursday.

Corn also found support in harvest delays in major exporter Ukraine, as well as reduced production prospects in the European Union.

CBOT soybeans were down 0.2% at $12.53-3/4 a bushel, after slipping on Thursday to their lowest since late December at $12.49.

US soybean stocks were pegged at 256 million bushels, down 51% from a year earlier but above the entire range of trade estimates in the Reuters pre-report poll.