SINGAPORE: Chicago wheat slid on Friday as dismal demand for US cargoes weighed on prices, although the market is on track for a weekly gain with dry weather slowing the pace of planting in top exporter Russia.
Soybeans ticked higher and corn prices eased, but both markets are set to end the week on a positive note.
The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) slid 0.8% to $5.79-3/4 a bushel, as of 0237 GMT, soybeans rose 0.1% to $10.41-1/2 a bushel and corn shed 0.4% to $4.11-1/2 a bushel.
For the week, wheat has climbed 2% after losing ground last week, while soybeans have gained almost 3% and corn is up 2.5%. A lack of demand for US wheat shipments added pressure on prices.
Meanwhile, winter wheat sowing rates in Russia for the next year’s crop have fallen to an 11-year low due to drought in key producing regions, the Sovecon consultancy said.
Russia’s IKAR agricultural consultancy has cut its forecast for Russia’s wheat crop for 2024 to 81.8 million metric tons from 82.2 million tons and for the grain crop to 124.5 million tons from 125 million tons, it said on Thursday.
Traders said they are now awaiting the US Department of Agriculture’s annual small grains summary and quarterly grain stocks reports, due on Monday.
Drought has held up the start of the soybean planting campaign in Brazil, though traders say rainfall next month may allow field work to commence in time.
Argentina’s Buenos Aires grains exchange could cut its forecast for the size of fields planted with corn this season if the South American nation’s farming heartlands do not receive rain in the coming weeks, it said.
Commodity funds were net sellers of CBOT soybean, soyoil, wheat and soymeal futures contracts on Thursday, and net buyers of corn futures contracts, traders said.
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