Chicago wheat prices were lower on Friday with rising plantings in the US expected to add to already abundant stocks and corn futures also fell with supply tightness beginning to ease. "The sentiment is turning more bearish on grains, given the forecasts of larger acreage in the US, flattening ethanol demand growth, plenty of wheat," said Adam Davis, a senior commodity analyst at Merricks Capital in Melbourne.
The US Department of Agriculture forecast US wheat plantings at 58 million acres, up 3.6 million acres from 2011. USDA pegged world wheat stocks at record 213.1 million tonnes. USDA's outlook conference left unchanged from its baseline projections the forecast for 94.0 million acres of corn this year in the United States, the most since 1944.
"With Brazil forecasting a record 60 million tonne corn crop in 2012, this may ease the pressure on supplies - and therefore price - for the balance of this and next season," Jonathan Lane, trading manager for UK merchant Gleadell said in a market note. CBOT March wheat fell 4-1/2 cents or 0.7 percent to $6.37-1/4 a bushel by 1208 GMT. The contract is on track for a weekly loss of around one percent.