SINGAPORE: Chicago wheat edged higher on Tuesday, as the market took a breather after dropping to its lowest since late May in the last session, with large supplies from Russia weighing on prices.
Soybeans inched lower, while corn was almost flat as traders adjusted their positions ahead of a key US government world supply-demand report due later in the day.
“The US agriculture department report is expected show lower output in the US but overall the world is well supplied with South American corn and beans,” a Singapore-based trader said.
The most-active active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was up 0.3% at $5.86-1/2 a bushel, as of 0330 GMT.
Corn was unchanged at $4.85-3/4 a bushel and soybeans lost 0.2% to $13.66-1/2 a bushel. Russian wheat export prices inched lower last week, tracking global benchmarks, as analysts continue to raise crop and export forecasts for this season.
The price of 12.5%-protein Russian wheat scheduled for free-on-board (FOB) delivery in October was $240 per metric ton last week, down from $245 a week earlier, agriculture consultancy IKAR reported.
The weekly condition ratings for the US soybean and corn crops declined in the past week, hovering at their lowest levels in a decade as dry conditions expanded, government data showed after the market closed on Monday.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) rated 52% of the US corn crop as “good to excellent”, down 1 percentage point from last week, matching the average analyst estimate.
In a weekly crop progress report, the agency rated 52% of the soybean crop as “good to excellent”, down 1 percentage point from a week ago, while 13 analysts surveyed by Reuters on average had expected a 2-point decline to 51%.
The USDA is expected to reduce its estimate for soybean and corn production in the monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates due to 1600 GMT.
In news, the European Union’s crop monitoring service MARS on Monday sharply raised its forecast of Ukraine’s maize harvest to 32.79 million metric tons, up from 29.11 million forecast in June.
Brazilian farmers had harvested 93% of the area planted for their second corn crop in the center-south region by Sept. 07, consultancy AgRural said on Monday, adding that soybean planting has begun in some places.
Commodity funds were net buyers of CBOT corn, soybeans, soymeal and soyoil futures contracts on Monday, traders said.
Funds were net sellers of CBOT wheat futures contracts, traders said.