SINGAPORE: Chicago wheat rose on Friday, poised for a third straight weekly gain as India’s move to reduce rice exports and talks about Russia’s restrictions on Ukrainian grain shipments underpinned the market.
Soybeans rose, although the market is on track for a second week of losses on expectations of a record US crop and higher South American planting.
“India’s decision on rice is going to have inflationary impact and lift prices of wheat and corn as well,” said one Sydney-based agricultural analyst.
The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) rose 0.8% to $8.35-1/2 a bushel, as of 0246 GMT. The market, which climbed to its highest in almost two month this week, has gained 3% this week.
Soybeans have dropped around 1.5% this week, while corn has added around 1%. India banned exports of broken rice and imposed a 20% duty on exports of various grades of rice on Thursday as the world’s biggest exporter of the grain tries to augment supplies and calm local prices after below-average monsoon rainfall curtailed planting.
Wheat markets strengthened earlier this week after President Vladimir Putin said Russia and the developing world had been “cheated” by a UN-brokered Ukrainian grain export deal, vowing to look to revise its terms to limit the countries that can receive shipments.
However, the White House said Thursday there was no indication the deal was unravelling.
Frosts recorded in the last two weeks in Argentina have caused some damage to the South American country’s 2022/23 wheat crop, the Buenos Aires grains exchange said on Thursday.
The frost damage adds to the impact caused by drought seen in recent months, which led the key grains exchange to cut its wheat planting forecast from an initial level of 6.6 million hectares to 6.1 million hectares.
For soybeans, the United States is on track for a record crop, while farmers are expected to boost planting in Brazil.
Wheat rallies for fourth day on Ukrainian supply woes; soybeans firm
Argentine farmers sold a total of 2.13 million tonnes of soybeans on Monday and Tuesday, surpassing in just two days the 667,000 tonnes sold last week after the government established a preferential exchange rate for soybean exports, the Rosario Stock Exchange said Wednesday.
Commodity funds were net sellers of CBOT corn, wheat, soybean and soymeal futures contracts on Thursday and net buyers of soyoil futures, traders said.