Chicago | Reuters — U.S. wheat futures rallied on Monday with K.C. hard red winter wheat hitting a two-year high on concerns that dry soils will crimp yields in key production areas around the world, traders said.
Corn futures were steady, supported by the strong gains in the wheat market while soybeans closed firm on strong export demand and crude oil strength.
The wheat market, which also benefited from technical buying as it passed through key benchmarks, was mainly focused on the weather outlook as growers in the Northern Hemisphere advance through their seeding tasks.
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“Dry forecasts for areas still planting winter wheat (the United States, Russia, Ukraine in particular) are keeping a bid under the market,” Brugler Marketing + Management said in a note to clients.
Chicago Board of Trade December soft red winter wheat settled up 11 cents at $5.84-1/4 a bushel (all figures US$). On a continuous basis, the most active contract hit its highest since Jan. 22.
K.C. hard red winter wheat for December delivery was 15 cents higher at $5.24-1/2 a bushel. The front-month contract hit its highest price since Oct. 17, 2018.
“Chicago and K.C. wheat hit multi-month and multi-year highs, respectively, to start out the week, with dryness building in some key production areas—that includes the U.S. Plains,” said Matt Zeller, director of market information at StoneX, said in a note.
CBOT November soybeans were down 3/4 cent at $10.21-1/2 a bushel.
The U.S. Agriculture Department on Monday morning said weekly export inspections of soybeans totalled 1.667 million tonnes, topping market forecasts that ranged from 1.05 million to 1.55 million tonnes.
CBOT December corn futures dipped 1/4 cent at $3.79-3/4 a bushel.
USDA will provide its weekly update on the progress of U.S. corn and soybean harvest and wheat planting at 3 p.m. CT.
— Reporting for Reuters by Mark Weinraub in Chicago; additional reporting by Michael Hogan in Hamburg and Naveen Thukral in Singapore.
