Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures tumbled to a five-month low on Friday, with hopes for a pick-up in exports from war-torn Ukraine threatening the recent gains made in demand for U.S. supplies, traders said.
Corn futures firmed again, their seventh gain in the last eight sessions, on concerns about hot weather stressing the U.S. crop as it passes through pollination.
Soybeans posted modest gains, also supported by weather concerns, but gains were limited as the crop was not in a critical development phase.
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The benchmark Chicago Board of Trade September soft red winter wheat contract fell 12.9 per cent this week, the biggest weekly loss in percentage terms for the most-active contract since March 2011.
“The strong dollar, harvest pressure, and ideas of progress on a corridor for Ukraine to ship grain continue to weigh on the market,” brokerage FuturesOne said in a research note.
Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations are due to sign a deal next week aimed at resuming Black Sea grain exports from Ukraine, which have been severely hampered by the war there.
CBOT September soft red winter wheat ended down 18-1/4 cents at $7.76-3/4 a bushel, its fifth straight losing session (all figures US$). Prices bottomed out at $7.65-3/4, the lowest for the most-active contract since Feb. 11.
The disruption to Black Sea shipping routes caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sparked a rally that pushed wheat futures near record highs by early March. Prices have retreated to pre-war levels but were still about $1 higher than they were a year ago.
CBOT December corn was up 2-3/4 cents at $6.03-3/4 a bushel and CBOT November soybeans were 1-1/4 cents higher at $13.42-1/4 a bushel.
“The combination of hot and dry weather will increase stress on corn and soybeans,” Kyle Tapley, a meteorologist with space technology company Maxar, wrote in a client note.
— Reporting for Reuters by Mark Weinraub in Chicago; additional reporting by Naveen Thukral in Singapore, Michael Hogan in Hamburg and Nigel Hunt in London.
