Wheat, corn and soybeans head for weekly losses amid ample supply

CANBERRA: Chicago wheat, corn and soybean futures edged lower on Friday, and were headed for weekly losses, pressured by favourable crop weather in the United States and expectations of plentiful supply.

Chicago wheat futures climb on strong demand

Fundamentals

• The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was down 0.2% at $10.40-3/4 a bushel, as of 0028 GMT. The contract has lost 2.3% so far this week, having slipped on Thursday to its lowest level since 2020.

• CBOT wheat fell 0.3% to $5.33-3/4 a bushel and was down 3% from last Friday’s close. It dipped to a four-month low $5.25 on Tuesday.

• CBOT corn dipped 0.1% to $4.04-1/2 a bushel and was poised for a 2.5% weekly loss. Prices are close to a four-year low reached in late June.

• US crop weather has been generally beneficial, bolstering expectations of large US corn and soybean harvests, and the US wheat harvest is progressing rapidly, adding new supply to the market.

• The International Grains Council (IGC) on Thursday raised its forecast for 2024/25 world corn production by 2 million metric tons to 1.225 billion tons and its world wheat output estimate by 8 million tons to 801 million tons, adding to expectations of strong supply.

• Weekly export sales of US old-crop corn totalled 437,800 tons, below trade expectations, while new-crop corn sales totalled 486,700 tons, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported.

• Soybeans got a boost on Thursday after the USDA confirmed private sales of 510,000 metric tons of US new-crop soybeans to undisclosed destinations, the largest daily “flash sale” of US soybeans since November.

• Polar winds hampered short-cycle wheat planting in Argentina’s agricultural heartland last week, although producers hope rains expected this weekend will allow sowing to resume, the Buenos Aires Grains Exchange said.

• Commodity funds were net buyers of CBOT soybeans on Thursday, net sellers of corn and net even in wheat, traders said. Speculators hold large net short positions in all three crops.