Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures plunged 3 percent on Monday, hitting their lowest since June 1 on expectations that drier conditions in the US Plains will allow farmers to harvest a bumper crop, traders said. Corn futures also fell, hitting new contract lows on pressure from good weather for crop development across the US Midwest.
A US Agriculture Department report on Monday afternoon was expected to show that good-to-excellent ratings for both corn and wheat were expected to be unchanged from a week earlier.
"Unless this afternoon's crop ratings show marked deterioration, it will be difficult to keep prices from grinding lower into harvest," Farm Futures market analyst Bryce Knorr said in a note to clients. CBOT July soft red winter wheat was down 15-3/4 cents at $4.88 a bushel at 12:05 p.m. CDT (1705 GMT), on track for their fourth straight day of declines following a rally to their highest in more than two months last week.
After storms clear in the next few days, the outlook for combining wheat in the key US production region looked clear for the next two weeks, Commodity Weather Group said in a forecast. CBOT corn for July delivery was down 5 cents at $3.48 a bushel. Prices fell through key technical support at the 30-day, 40-day and 50-day moving averages before hitting a contract low of $3.46-3/4 a bushel.
Dealers said the market was continuing to keep a close watch on developments in China, with the world's second-largest corn consumer likely to take steps to curb imports of corn and substitutes such as sorghum and barley. CBOT July soyabeans were 3-1/2 cents lower at $9.36-1/2 a bushel, with weakness in soyameal futures leading the way lower.
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