SINGAPORE: Chicago wheat slid for a third consecutive session on Thursday, with the market dropping to its lowest since August 2020 as fierce competition among exporters provided headwinds to prices.
Corn was largely unchanged, while soybeans ticked higher.
“There is a lot of wheat around from last year’s crop and conditions are pretty favourable for northern hemisphere production later this year,” said one Sydney-based trader.
The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board Of Trade (CBOT) fell 0.2% to $5.30 a bushel, as of 0240, after hitting its weakest since August 2020 at $5.28-1/2 a bushel earlier in the day.
Corn was unchanged at $4.28-3/4 a bushel and soybeans added 0.1% to $11.49-1/2 a bushel.
Wheat prices came under renewed pressure after Algeria purchased at least 870,000 metric tons on Tuesday, mostly believed to be cheap wheat produced in the Black Sea region.
After the close of the CBOT on Wednesday, Egypt’s state wheat buyer set an international wheat purchase tender with offers due on March 7.
For corn and soybeans, traders are awaiting monthly supply/demand report due on Friday from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for a gauge for South American production.
The high probability of a strong La Nina arriving by October has put grains farmers on alert in Argentina, where the climate phenomenon usually brings dry weather with lower rainfall, the Rosario grains exchange said on Wednesday.
Commodity funds were net sellers of CBOT wheat futures contracts on Wednesday and net buyers of soymeal, soyoil and corn, traders said. Funds were net even for the day in soybean futures, they said.
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