SINGAPORE: Chicago wheat bounced back on Monday, rising more than 1% and gaining after three sessions of declines, as worries over global supplies underpinned the market, which had hit a 10-month high last week.
Soybean slid to a one-month low, weighed down by US planting progress and ample South American supplies.
“Black Sea weather issue is driving wheat prices higher,” said one Singapore-based trader.
“Lower wheat production in Russia can make a big difference to world supplies and availability of competitively priced wheat cargoes.”
The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) added 1.2% to $6.86-3/4 a bushel as of 0321 GMT.
The contract hit its highest since late July at $7.20 a bushel on Tuesday but slid towards the end of the week. Soybeans fell 0.9% to $11.94-1/4 a bushel, having slid to $11.94 earlier in the session, the weakest since May 2. Corn edged 0.1% lower to $4.46 a bushel.
Forecasts for a smaller Russian wheat harvest due to persistent drought and frost pushed prices to a 10-month high last week.
However, prices eased at the end of the week on expectations of much-needed rains.
The condition of French soft wheat continued to deteriorate last week as wet weather persisted in crop belts, with the share of the crop in good or excellent condition falling to the lowest level this growing season and remaining at a four-year low.
Chicago wheat, corn futures end week lower
Rainfall will likely be below normal in the western part of Argentina’s agricultural heartland over the next three months, the country’s National Weather Service said on Friday, forecasting normal to below-normal rainfall for the rest of the Pampas region.
Still, rain in parched areas of Western and South Australia and more expected in coming days could add as much as a million tons to the country’s wheat harvest, analysts said this week.
US farmers have made steady progress planting corn and soybeans between showers and the rain could help early growth of this year’s crops.
The US soybean crush likely dropped in April to a seven-month low of 5.265 million short tons, or 175.5 million bushels, according to analysts surveyed by Reuters ahead of a monthly US Department of Agriculture report due on Monday.
Large speculators increased their net short position in CBOT corn futures in the week to May 28, regulatory data released on Friday showed.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly commitments of traders report also showed that noncommercial traders, a category that includes hedge funds, increased their net short position in CBOT wheat and trimmed their net short position in soybeans.
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