SINGAPORE: Chicago wheat edged higher on Tuesday, after hitting a more than three-month low in the previous session, although ample supplies from the Black Sea region following an extension of the export corridor deal curbed gains. Soybeans climbed to a two-week high, while corn eased.
The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) rose 0.5% to $7.84-3/4 a bushel, as of 0434 GMT, after dropping on Monday to its lowest since Aug. 22 at $7.73-1/4.
Soybeans added 0.3% to $14.61-3/4 a bushel and corn was down 0.1% at $6.70-1/2 a bushel.
Cheap supplies from Russia and elsewhere in the Black Sea are leading to competition for US suppliers.
Russian wheat prices rebounded slightly last week from a week earlier, when they fell on the extension of the Black Sea grain supply deal, analysts said on Monday.
Prices for Russian wheat with 12.5% protein content and for supply from Black Sea ports in December were at $317 a tonne free on board (FOB) on Friday evening, up $3 from a week earlier, the IKAR agriculture consultancy said in a note. Soybean prices are being supported by dryness in Brazil.
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“South America’s summer crops are the most likely trigger for another step higher in agricultural commodity prices,” said Tobin Gorey, director of agricultural strategy at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
Brazilian soybean planting reached 87% of the estimated area in the 2022/2023 cycle amid dryness in some center-western farms that has left growers concerned, according to agribusiness consultancy AgRural on Monday.
Although sowing is slightly behind last season’s pace, Brazil is poised to harvest a bumper crop based on historical yield trends and the estimated size of the planted area, AgRural said.
Large speculators cut their net long position in CBOT corn futures in the week to Nov. 22, regulatory data released on Monday showed.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly commitments of traders report also showed that noncommercial traders, a category that includes hedge funds, increased their net short position in CBOT wheat and cut their net long position in soybeans.