CANBERRA: Chicago wheat futures edged lower on Tuesday but held on to most of their gains from the previous session as fighting between Russia and Ukraine reduced exports from the Black Sea.
Corn futures were flat after rallying sharply on Monday, when the US Department of Agriculture reported US crop condition had deteriorated more than analysts expected.
Soybeans inched lower, with a hot streak of US export sales undercut by ample supply. The most-traded wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was down 0.4percent at USD6.48-1/2 a bushel, as of 0649 GMT, after rising 1.8percent on Monday.
Ukraine and Russia have been using drones and missiles to attack one another’s ships and ports, disrupting shipments. Both nations are major suppliers of wheat. Russian export prices fell last week under pressure from rising freight rates and insurance premiums, analysts said, though they still expect Russia to ship more wheat in August than in July.
There is scope for further price gains, said Andrew Whitelaw, an analyst at consultants Episode 3 in Canberra. “In the next few months we will potentially see significant impact on exports,” he said. “The market’s not fully pricing it in.”
CBOT wheat is up around 28percent so far this year, mainly due to drought in the United States that shrank its winter wheat harvest and reduced global supply. Harvests elsewhere in the world have been mostly good, however.
In other crops, CBOT corn edged 0.1percent lower to USD4.72-1/4 a bushel after rising 1.8percent in the previous session, while soybeans slipped 0.4percent to USD11.87-1/4 a bushel. The USDA lowered its condition rating for the US corn crop for a third consecutive week following hot, dry weather in the Midwest. It said 61percent of corn was in good-to-excellent condition, as of Sunday, down from 63percent a week earlier.
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