Wheat futures on the Chicago Board of Trade fell more than 1 percent on Thursday on disappointing US export sales data, traders said. Corn and soyabeans also fell, retreating from six-week highs set this week, on improving crop prospects in South America. At the CBOT as of 12:43 pm CST (1843 GMT), March wheat was down 7 cents at $4.73 per bushel. March corn was down 2 cents at $3.69 per bushel and March soyabeans were down 2-3/4 cents at $8.74 a bushel.
Wheat fell after the US Department of Agriculture reported weekly export sales of US wheat at 66,200 tonnes, below trade expectations and the smallest weekly total since the 2015-16 marketing year began on June 1. CBOT wheat futures have suffered in part due to record-large global stocks of wheat and stiff competition for export business. "The problem is, no matter what you look at, we've got plenty of everything," said Roy Huckabay with the Linn Group, a Chicago brokerage.
CBOT grains fell despite weakness in the dollar, which can make US goods more attractive to those holding other currencies. The dollar index fell for a fourth day on diminished expectations of US interest rate hikes this year. Traders shrugged off smaller-than-expected Canadian wheat stocks data. Statistics Canada said Canadian wheat inventories fell 19 percent to an eight-year low of 20.7 million tonnes as of December 31. The figure fell below an average of trade estimates for 21.8 million. Corn and soyabean futures also felt pressure from ample world supplies, given improving harvest prospects in Brazil and Argentina. In Brazil, government crop supply agency Conab trimmed its forecast of the country's soyabean crop to 100.9 million tonnes, from 102.1 million last month.
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