SINGAPORE: Chicago wheat futures edged up on Wednesday, supported as investors looked for bargains after the market dropped to a one-month low in the last session on pressure from expectations of bumper production across the northern hemisphere. Soybean prices edged up, while corn was little changed.
The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade had climbed 0.5 percent to $4.47 a bushel by 0328 GMT, after dropping to its lowest since March 13 at $4.42 a bushel on Tuesday.
"Wheat crop yields are looking good in top exporting countries, but bargain-buying could be part of today's action," said Phin Ziebell, agribusiness economist at National Australia Bank.
Corn was flat at $3.59 a bushel, while soybeans gained 0.1 percent to $8.88-3/4 a bushel. The wheat market is coming under pressure as crop-friendly weather boosts crops across the northern hemisphere.
The US Department of Agriculture in a weekly report issued on Monday rated 60 percent of the US winter wheat crop in good-to-excellent condition. That was unchanged from the previous week and in line with trade expectations, but up from 31 percent a year ago.
Agriculture consultancy SovEcon has raised its forecast for Russia's 2019, wheat crop to 83.4 million tonnes from 80 million tonnes, signalling bigger supplies in the world's top exporter.
Germany's 2019 wheat harvest will jump 20.6 percent on the year to 24.44 million tonnes with rising expectations of a recovery after the drought-reduced harvest last year, the country's association of farm cooperatives (DRV) said on Tuesday. Hopes for a positive outcome from US trade talks are likely to aid soybean prices.
China would likely lift a ban on US poultry as part of a trade deal and may buy more pork to meet a growing supply deficit, but it is not willing to allow a prohibited growth drug used in roughly half the US hog herd, two sources with knowledge of the negotiations said.
The United States and China are trying to hammer out a deal to end a months-long trade war that has cost the world's two largest economies billions and roiled global financial markets and supply chains.
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