CANBERRA/PARIS: Chicago wheat futures rose on Thursday on worries about frost-related crop losses in top exporter Russia which drove prices to 10-month highs this week.
Soybean futures inched up as concerns over flooding in Brazil offset data showing lower demand for beans from US soy processors.
Corn also rose slightly, despite drier weather forecast in the US Midwest that is favourable for planting.
The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was up 2.1% at $6.79-3/4 a bushel at 1200 GMT after rising as high as $6.97 in volatile trade on Wednesday.
CBOT soybeans edged up 0.1% to $12.14-1/4 a bushel, while corn gained 0.5% to $4.65 a bushel.
Russia’s agriculture ministry on Thursday said frosts had killed 830,000 hectares of crops or about 1% of the country’s total, local news agency reported.
This follows leading analysts cutting their wheat crop forecasts in the past days, citing frost damage.
IKAR pegging the harvest at 86 million metric tons from 91 million tons previously, while Sovecon sees the crop at 89.6 tons, down from the 93 million tons it had forecast in April.
Meanwhile, the first results of the Wheat Quality Council’s tour in Kansas projected an average yield in the state’s north of 49.9 bushels an acre for hard red winter wheat, the highest in three years.
The second day of the tour projected yields in southwestern Kansas at 42.4 bushels an acre, up from a drought-reduced 27.6 in 2023.
Elsewhere, Argentina’s Rosario grains exchange expressed optimism about the 2024/25 wheat crop, citing improved soil conditions at the start of planting and expected rains in October and November.
Consultancy Strategie Grains raised its forecast of this year’s soft wheat harvest in the European Union on favourable weather prospects in Spain.
Commodity funds were net sellers of CBOT wheat, corn and soybeans on Wednesday, traders said. Speculators have sharply reduced their net short position in all three in recent weeks, helping lift prices.
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