US wheat futures fell from a 5-1/2-week high on Thursday on a round of profit-taking following a six-session rally that had pushed prices up 9.2 percent, traders said.
"We came pretty far, pretty fast off our lows," said Chris Robinson, senior trader at Top Third Ag Marketing. "It is not surprising that we get a little bit of a breather."
Corn futures also fell, weighed down by light demand on the export market. Soyabeans were mixed, with the front-month contract supported by tight supplies, while old-crop contracts sagged on expectations of a huge harvest. Traders said the wheat market was in focus owing to concerns about how the conflict between Russia and Ukraine would affect exports from the Black Sea region.
In a sweeping response to Western sanctions imposed over Russia's support for rebels in Ukraine, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday his country will ban fruit, vegetable, meat, fish, milk and dairy imports from the United States, the European Union, Australia, Canada and Norway. Moscow is the second-biggest importer of US poultry. Chicago Board of Trade soft red winter wheat for September delivery settled down 6-1/2 cents at $5.61-1/2 a bushel.
Some short-covering, spurred by speculation the Ukraine crisis could deepen in coming days, kept the declines in check and pulled wheat from its session low. Traders also cited some technical support for CBOT September wheat at its 40-day moving average. CBOT September corn was 3-3/4 cents lower at $3.59-1/2 a bushel, with expectations for a bumper harvest keeping bargain buyers on the sidelines even with prices near four-year lows.
The US Agriculture Department said on Thursday morning that new-crop export sales of corn were 758,700 tonnes in the latest week, below trade estimates ranging from 800,000 to 1 million tonnes. An export trader said that most world buyers were more interested in Black Sea corn, which was priced about 15 cents a bushel lower than US supplies. CBOT soyabeans for August delivery were 13 cents higher at $12.50 a bushel, while the new-crop November contract was 2 cents lower at $10.78 a bushel.
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