US wheat futures slid to six-week lows on Monday as much-needed rain and snow fell in dry areas of the southern Plains, pushing most-active K.C. hard red winter wheat futures down more than 5 percent, traders said. Soyabean futures sagged as beneficial weekend rains reached dry areas of Argentina's soya belt, and corn followed the weak trend.
As of 12:07 p.m. CDT (1707 GMT), Chicago Board of Trade May wheat was down 13-1/2 cents at $4.54-1/4 a bushel while K.C. May wheat was down 26-1/2 cents at $4.73 after dipping to $4.72, its lowest since Feb. 5. CBOT May soyabeans were down 24 cents at $10.25-1/2 a bushel and May corn was down 6-3/4 cents at $3.76.
Wheat posted the biggest declines on a percentage basis as rain and snow fell in the southern Plains, parts of which have been dry since October. The storm should generate about 1 inch (2.5 cm) of liquid precipitation for northern, central and eastern Kansas, the top US wheat state, said Don Keeney, an agricultural meteorologist with Radiant Solutions. The region's hard red winter wheat is starting to emerge from dormancy and resume spring growth, a phase that ratchets up its need for moisture. CBOT corn was lower on spillover pressure from wheat and long liquidation by commodity funds that, in the week to March 13, had built up their biggest net long in CBOT corn since June 2016, according to US Commodity Futures Trading Commission data.
CBOT May soyabeans dipped to $10.23-1/2, their lowest in about a month, as rains fell in crop areas of Argentina. Last week, the Rosario Grains Exchange slashed its estimate of Argentina's soyabean crop to 40 million tonnes, from 46.5 million previously, following months of dry weather.
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