US wheat futures fell on Monday amid plentiful global inventories and poor export demand for US supplies, traders said. Corn and soyabeans also fell as macroeconomic worries hung over the market and on some forecasts for much-needed rains in Argentina next week.
At the CBOT as of 12:55 pm CST (1855 GMT), March wheat was down 7 cents at $4.72-1/4 per bushel. March corn was last down 2-1/4 cents at $3.74-1/2 per bushel and March soyabeans were down 3-1/2 cents at $8.78-3/4 a bushel. Wheat sagged on a lack of follow-through after a short-covering rally lifted futures on Friday, the last trading day of the month.
"The bottom line is, world competition for wheat (exports) continues to be pretty stiff, and we are not getting any," said Tom Fritz, a partner with EFG Group in Chicago. Also, traders were still digesting news that Russia, one of the world's largest wheat exporters, likely would not change its current regime of grain export taxes. Concerns over the possibility of tougher limits on Russia's foreign sales of wheat had sent global prices to a one-month high last week.
Additional pressure stemmed from Egypt's rejection of a French wheat shipment. And a winter storm brewing in the US Plains was forecast to blanket region's winter wheat with snow ahead of a cold spell late this week. CBOT soyabeans and corn fell on technical selling and spillover weakness from crude oil and world equity markets.
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission's weekly Commitments of Traders report showed that non-commercial traders slashed their net short position in CBOT corn in the week to January 26. Some observers viewed the data as a signal that short-covering rallies may have stalled for the time being. "Traders are running out of reasons to cover their short positions, and have no real reason to even consider buying," said Karl Setzer, an analyst with the MaxYield Co-operative in West Bend, Iowa.
Forecasts for improving weather in South America, including rains expected in dry areas of Argentina, added to bearish sentiment. "Showers are expected to build across northern Buenos Aires, Entre Rios and Santa Fe in the six-to-10-day period, which would begin to replenish moisture and improve conditions for corn and soyabeans," MDA Weather Services said in a note to clients. A record soyabean crop is expected in Brazil in early 2016 despite some recent cuts in harvest forecasts.
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