Wheat gains for third session on smaller US and Canada acreage estimates

BEIJING: Chicago wheat futures rose on Thursday, supported by smaller-than-expected acreage estimates in the United States and Canada, though the Northern Hemisphere harvest capped gains.

The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) inched 0.13% higher to $6.00-3/4 a bushel by 0413 GMT, heading for a third straight session of gains.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Tuesday estimated 2026 US wheat plantings at 42.7 million acres, while Statistics Canada pegged Canadian wheat area at 25.3 million acres, down 5.9% from 2025. Both were below trade expectations.

“Looking ahead, the prospect of lower planted area and reduced fertiliser application by 2027/28 is a fair scenario, as grower margins remain under pressure from grain prices not keeping up with the farm inputs rise pace,” Rabobank analyst Vitor Pistoia said in a note.

However, improved fertiliser availability from the Gulf could ease cost pressures, support future wheat output and keep prices rangebound, he said.

Corn climbed 0.06% to $4.42-1/2 a bushel, supported by bargain-buying ahead of a US holiday weekend and bullish quarterly US stocks data released earlier this week.

Soybeans rose 0.5% to $11.55 a bushel on hopes of renewed Chinese buying and robust domestic crush demand.

The USDA earlier reported that US soy processors crushed 213.1 million bushels of soybeans in May, below an average of analyst estimates for 214.9 million bushels, but up 4.6% from the year-ago May 2025 crush.

Ahead of the USDA export sales report later in the day, traders expected weekly US soybean sales of up to 650,000 metric tons for old crop and 900,000 tons for new crop; corn sales of up to 1.1 million tons for both old and new crop; and wheat sales of 300,000 to 600,000 tons.

US markets will be closed on Friday for the Independence Day holiday.

Commodity funds were net buyers of CBOT corn, soy and wheat futures, traders said on Wednesday.