SINGAPORE: Chicago wheat was largely unchanged on Monday, after climbing to its highest in more than a month last week, as rains in key Southern Hemisphere producers Australia and Argentina boosted supply prospects.

Corn edged higher and soybeans slid for a second consecutive session. “The weather on Australia’s east coast has been pretty favourable for wheat,” a Singapore-based trader said.

“Earlier, there was talk of 22 million metric tons of wheat production but now we are looking more close to 25.0-25.5 million tons.”

The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was flat at $5.86 a bushel, as of 0344 GMT, after climbing to its highest since Sept. 15 at $6.05 a bushel on Friday.

Corn added 0.2% to $4.96-1/4 a bushel while soybeans lost 0.4% to $12.97-3/4 a bushel.

Recent rains across key Australian wheat growing areas are likely to increase yields, adding several million tons to a crop that had been hit by dry weather and boosting the global supply outlook, analysts said.

Heavy rains drenched drought-hit agricultural regions across Argentina over the weekend, the National Meteorological Service said, raising hopes for better wheat conditions in the South American country.

Experts underscore need for boosting wheat yield

For soybeans, China’s imports of the oilseed from Brazil rose in September by 23% from a year earlier, data showed on Friday, after a huge crop produced by the South American nation this year continued to reach the world’s top buyer.

Large speculators increased their net short position in CBOT corn futures in the week to Oct. 17, regulatory data released on Friday showed.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly commitments of traders report also showed that noncommercial traders, a category that includes hedge funds, trimmed their net short position in CBOT wheat and soybeans.