Wheat firms on increasing demand for US stocks

19 Dec, 2012

 

Chicago Board of Trade March wheat rose 0.37 percent to $8.14-1/4 a bushel by 0357 GMT, off a session high of $8.16-1/2 a bushel. Wheat rose 0.56 percent in the prior session.

 

Wheat has fallen in six of the last nine sessions, and remains down more than 5 percent for December.

 

"US wheat has become more competitive into wider markets," Graydon Chong, senior analyst, grains and oilseeds, Rabobank said. "It is starting to work into places like Egypt, and we expect the US to get some action from their latest tender.

 

Egypt's main wheat-buying agency, the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC), set a tender on Tuesday to buy an unspecified volume of the grain from global suppliers for Feb. 11-20 shipment. As part of the tender, GASC is seeking cargoes of 55,000 to 60,000 tonnes of different kinds of wheat, including two different classes of US supplies.

 

The US winter wheat crop is also likely to be buoyed by favorable weather across many key growing states in the next few weeks, providing much needed moisture.

 

Two major winter storm systems are set to sweep through much of the US Plains and Midwest over the next two weeks, leaving welcome soil moisture, said MDA EarthSat Weather.

 

January soybeans fell 0.34 percent to $14.61 a bushel, having slipped 1.99 percent in the previous session.

 

March corn slid 0.17 percent to $7.18-3/4 a bushel after closing down 0.52 percent on Tuesday.

 

Soybeans were weighed down by signs of falling demand.

 

China, the world's largest consumer of soybeans, cancelled 300,000 tonnes of US supplies, traders said on Tuesday, while the US Agriculture Department said the soybean cancellations also included 120,000 tonnes sold to unknown destinations.

 

Despite indications of easing international demand, South American production prospects continue to look mixed.

 

Widespread rainfall moved across Argentina over the weekend causing another slowdown in crop seedings and the rain is expected to continue through Wednesday, Global Weather Monitoring said.

Center>Copyright Reuters, 2012

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