SINGAPORE: Chicago wheat futures rose on Friday after four consecutive sessions of losses as bargain-buying supported prices, although expectations of ample global supplies capped gains.
Soybeans edged higher, while corn was largely unchanged as slowing US exports kept a lid on prices.
“Talk of good weather for a fast start to the crop plus a strong rally in the US dollar were seen as bearish forces,” commodities research firm Hightower said in a report.
“In addition, the export market remains slow, and traders are positioning ahead of USDA’s supply-demand report.”
The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) added 0.9% to $6.33 a bushel as of 0407 GMT.
Soybeans rose 0.3% to $14.09-1/2 a bushel and corn was unchanged at $5.82-1/4 a bushel.
For the week, wheat is down 4.1%, corn has given up 2.3% and soybeans have lost nearly 2%. All three market closed higher last week.
Falling demand for US supplies is weighing on prices.
he US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said on Thursday that weekly export sales of corn totalled just 340,400 tonnes. Wheat export sales were 359,900 tonnes and soybean export sales came in at 112,300 tonnes.
The USDA will release its closely watched monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report on Friday, which will include forecasts for the 2023/24 marketing year for the first time.
Analysts were expecting the report to show that supplies of corn and soybeans will rise sharply in the coming year.
In the wheat market, talks over the Black Sea export deal remain at the centre stage, even though plentiful global supplies keeping a lid on prices.
Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations discussed on Thursday UN proposals to extend a deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of Ukraine grain, which Moscow has threatened to quit on May 18 over obstacles to its grain and fertilizer exports.
Algeria buys around 500,000 to 600,000 tonnes of wheat
Argentina’s average soybean yield for the 2022/23 season fell in the last week, the Buenos Aires grains exchange said Thursday, as the ongoing harvest showed the toll of a historic drought that has crippled the country’s critical agriculture sector.
Current production for the 2022/23 soybean season is estimated at 22.5 million tonnes, much lower than the 48 million tonnes forecast at the beginning of the season in September.
However, Conab, Brazil’s food supply and statistics agency, has raised its forecast for Brazilian soybean and corn production, citing favourable conditions in spite of the effects of the La Niña weather pattern, which caused drought in the south of the country early in the season.
In its May forecast report released on Thursday, Conab predicted Brazilian farmers will harvest a record 154.8 million tonnes of soybeans, 23.3% more than in the previous season, and a record 125.5 million tonnes of corn, 11% above last year.
Commodity funds were net sellers of CBOT corn, wheat and soyoil futures contracts on Thursday, traders said.
They were net buyers of soymeal, and net even in soybeans.
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