Chicago wheat pulls back from recent peak on improved US weather; soy, corn slip

BEIJING: Chicago wheat futures eased on Monday as improving US weather conditions reduced concerns over crop stress, prompting prices to retreat from a one-month high reached in the previous session.

The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) dropped 0.51% to $5.88-1/4 a bushel as of 0418 GMT.

“Wheat dropped because there is rainfall coming to the US, lowering the chances of a poor start of the season,” Rabobank analyst Vitor Pistoia said.

CBOT soybeans slipped 0.06% to $11.7 a bushel, pressured by Brazil’s record harvest and uncertainty over Chinese demand after the US Supreme Court overturned several tariffs, prompting President Donald Trump to introduce new measures.

Soybeans had earlier tracked gains in soyoil, which rose alongside crude oil prices amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East as Iran and Israel stepped up attacks on each other.

In the US, soybean processors likely crushed 6.789 million short tons, or 226.3 million bushels, of soybeans in January, per analysts surveyed ahead of a monthly US Department of Agriculture report due later in the day.

Traders are monitoring logistical hurdles in top soy producer Brazil, where truck drivers are facing unusually long delays to deliver soybeans at the Miritituba port, straining one of the world’s key export hubs for the crop.

Corn slipped 0.17% to $4.47-3/4 a bushel, tracking declines in soybeans and wheat despite firm export demand.