Wheat recovers after slide as coronavirus demand effects weighed

• Corn was also firm, helped by a dramatic rebound in crude oil, while soybeans were almost unchanged.
• CBOT corn was up 1.3pc at $3.37-3/4 a bushel, while CBOT soybeans inched down 0.1pc to $8.57-3/4.

Corn was also firm, helped by a dramatic rebound in crude oil, while soybeans were almost unchanged.

The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board Of Trade was up 2.6pc at $5.55-3/4 a bushel by 1152 GMT.

It is down nearly 3pc this week, set for a first weekly loss in three weeks.

Wheat markets climbed steeply in March on signs of extra food demand and moves by some countries to restrict exports in response to the coronavirus crisis, before retreating this week.

Traders said there were signs demand had subsided, with higher prices and a stronger dollar seen contributing to weak US wheat export sales reported on Thursday.

"The US wheat export sales were not very good so the market took that as a cue to pull back further," Nathan Cordier of consultancy Agritel said.

"But we're still facing some tightness for the end of the season, and for next season stocks in major exporting countries are not flush, while in Russia and Ukraine it's starting to get dry as we approach a sensitive period for crops."

Traders were monitoring moves by key wheat exporting and importing nations as governments seek to ensure adequate supply.

Algeria is holding its third wheat import tender in two weeks on Friday, while traders are watching to see if top wheat importer Egypt returns to the market after cancelling a tender just after announcing it on Wednesday.

However, investors remained preoccupied with the risk of a prolonged global downturn and they continued to seek safety in the US dollar and government bonds.

While oil markets have sprung back spectacularly since Thursday, after US President Donald Trump said he had brokered a deal on production cuts between Saudi Arabia and Russia, the recent collapse in prices has hammered demand for corn-based ethanol fuel.

"There is an immense demand destruction still happening with ethanol plants shutting down and from people staying in - eating out less," said Ole Houe, director of advisory services at brokerage IKON Commodities.

"At the same time, several of the poorer nations have hundreds of thousands of people out of work, consuming less than before."

CBOT corn was up 1.3pc at $3.37-3/4 a bushel, while CBOT soybeans inched down 0.1pc to $8.57-3/4.