PARIS/SINGAPORE: Chicago wheat steadied after falling to a two-month low on Thursday as market attention turned to US inflation and grain export data later in the day.

Corn and soybeans edged lower on higher official estimates for US harvest yields and a stronger dollar.

The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was up 0.3% at $8.09 a bushel by 1244 GMT, after setting a new two-month low earlier in the session.

CBOT corn was down 0.4% at $6.61-3/4 a bushel, while soybeans eased 0.5% to $14.44-1/2 a bushel.

The monthly US inflation reading is being closely watched as a gauge for the pace of further interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve.

“This inflation data will move our commodity markets via the US dollar and overall risk vibe,” Peak Trading Research said.

An increased projection of global supplies by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) in a monthly supply-demand report on Wednesday pressured wheat futures that have already pushed down by continuing exports through the Black Sea.

However, another sharp cut in wheat production forecast in drought-affected Argentina, in an update from the Rosario grains exchange on Wednesday, lent some support to prices.

Uncertainty also surrounds the continuation of a United Nations-backed shipping corridor from Ukraine, which currently runs to Nov. 19.

Top UN officials will meet a senior Russian delegation in Geneva on Friday to discuss extending the grain export deal.

US corn and soybean inventories will be bigger than previously thought as yields of both crops were revised up from last month, the USDA said in its report on Wednesday.

Demand concerns were also hanging over both markets, with Mexican demand for US corn uncertain after government statements against biotech crops.

Soybean traders were weighing concerns over Beijing’s Covid situation.