Chicago | Reuters—Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures dropped on Friday after a crop tour through Kansas this week projected better-than-average yields in the top U.S. winter wheat state, analysts said.
Corn also ended lower on improving U.S weather forecasts, while soybeans extended gains as forecasts for more rain in southern Brazil fueled concern about crop losses to floods.
The July wheat contract on the CBOT WN24 settled down 12 cents at $6.51-1/4 a bushel. The most-active contract Wv1 ended down about 1.9 per cent for the week as the market backpedaled after hitting a 10-month high on Wednesday on worries about poor crop weather in Russia, the world’s biggest wheat exporter.
Read Also
Alberta crop conditions improve: report
Varied precipitation and warm temperatures were generally beneficial for crop development across Alberta during the week ended July 8, according to the latest provincial crop report released July 11.
The Wheat Quality Council’s annual crop tour concluded on Thursday and estimated Kansas wheat’s yield potential at 46.5 bushels per acre (bpa) after scouting 449 fields over three days. The figure was the highest since 2021 and above the five-year tour average of 42.4 bpa from 2018-2023.
Wheat futures were technically overbought and due for a correction, said Austin Schroeder, a commodity analyst with Brugler Marketing and Management.
In corn, forecasts for a drier weekend in corn-growing areas capped prices, before rains arrive next week, Schroeder said.
“I think it’s fairly open in terms of planting,” he said.
CBOT July corn CN24 ended down 4-1/2 cents at $4.52-1/2 per bushel while July soybeans SN24 advanced 11-3/4 cents to $12.28 a bushel.
Soybeans rose as crop harvesting in Brazil’s flood-devastated Rio Grande do Sul advanced slowly in the last week as relentless rains and stubbornly high waters failed to subside.
“There was a sharp reduction in grain quality in comparison to the product obtained before the excess rain,” Brazilian crop agency Emater said on Thursday.
Gains in soyoil helped boost soybeans, Schroeder added.
—Additional reporting for Reuters by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Naveen Thukral in Singapore
