SINGAPORE: Chicago wheat gained more ground on Wednesday, as expectations of lower output in Russia and tighter supplies in Europe underpinned the market.
Soybeans edged up, after closing lower in the previous session on better-than-expected US crop ratings, with traders squaring positions ahead of key US crop reports on Thursday.
“Harvest pressure on wheat prices is easing and there are some estimates of lower output in Russia,” said one trader in Singapore.
“Wheat supplies are likely to tighten in the coming months.” The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) edged 0.1% higher to $5.75 a bushel, as of 0248 GMT, and corn added 0.2% to $4.05 a bushel.
Soybeans rose 0.5% to $10.01-3/4 a bushel. Consultancy IKAR has cut its forecast for Russia’s wheat crop to 82.2 million metric tons from 83.8 million tons and wheat exports to 44 million metric tons from 44.5 million tons citing “very adverse weather in Volga, Urals, and Siberia”.
Soft wheat exports from the European Union since the start of the 2024/25 season in July had reached 4.82 million metric tons by Sept. 8, down 23% from the 6.25 million seen a year earlier, data published by the European Commission showed on Tuesday.
Soybeans fell on Tuesday after the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) in its weekly crop progress report kept its good-to-excellent score for the US soybean crop unchanged at 65%, contrary to market expectations for a decline.
Analysts surveyed by Reuters ahead of Thursday’s monthly reports on average expect the government to leave its US 2024 soybean yield forecast unchanged at 53.2 bushels per acre, but estimates ranged from 52 to 54.9 bushels.
Analysts, on average, expect a slight reduction in the USDA’s corn yield estimate.
The wheat market was capped by cheaper Black Sea export prices.
Commodity funds were net sellers of CBOT soybean, corn, soymeal and soyoil futures contracts on Tuesday and net buyers of wheat futures, traders said.
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