CANBERRA: Chicago wheat futures fell to their lowest level since May on Monday, and hovered near their lowest since 2020, as ongoing harvests in the Northern Hemisphere kept the market well supplied. Corn and soybean futures edged higher.
Both crops remain under pressure from expectations of a large US harvest but corn has some support from brisk US export demand propelled by its low price.
The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was down 0.4% at $5.14-3/4 a bushel, as of 0453 GMT after falling to $5.13-1/2, its lowest since May 14.
Prices are now a whisker from May’s five-year low of $5.06-1/4. “Wheat continues to have few crop worries,” said Tobin Gorey, founder of Australian consultants Cornucopia.
With overall supply looking plentiful, the only concern for the market is whether the slow start to shipments from the Black Sea, the biggest wheat export region, might be due to lower than expected yields, he said.
Consultants Sovecon on Friday cut their forecast for Russia’s 2025 wheat crop to 83.3 million metric tons from 83.6 million tons, but a harvest of that size would be large by historical standards.
Many other countries are on track for large production years, and rainfall in Southern Hemisphere exporters Argentina and Australia has improved the outlook for their harvests later in the year.
The US Department of Agriculture will issue an update on the nation’s spring wheat harvest in a weekly report on Monday.
New US tariffs on dozens of trading partners are meanwhile raising fears that trade disputes could impact US farm exports, as well as hitting equities markets and the US dollar.
Large speculators increased their net short positions in CBOT wheat, corn and soybeans in the week to July 29, regulatory data showed. CBOT corn was up 0.1% at $4.11 a bushel and soybeans rose 0.1% to $9.90-1/2 a bushel.
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