CHICAGO: Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures tumbled on Friday on concerns about competition for export business, analysts said.

CBOT May soft red winter wheat settled down 28-3/4-cents at $7.21-3/4 per bushel. The most-active contract hit its lowest price since Jan. 23.

KC May hard red winter wheat ended down 21-1/2 cents at $8.35-1/4 a bushel and touched its lowest price since Jan. 24. MGEX May spring wheat fell 23 cents to $8.81.

Grain supplies available from the Black Sea region weighed on CBOT wheat and corn futures due to increased competition for export business, traders said. Many traders expect a Black Sea grain-export deal from 2022 to be renewed.

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan on Friday about the deal.

Euronext wheat fell to a one-month low on Friday, pressured by export competition from Russia and expectations that the wartime shipping corridor from Ukraine will continue.

The US Agriculture Department said US wheat export sales totaled 418,900 tonnes in the week ended Feb. 16. Analysts’ estimates for the weekly total ranged from 150,000 to 650,000 tonnes.

Chicago Board of Trade soyabean futures closed lower on Friday on a lack of supportive news and on spill-over selling from losses in the neighbouring wheat and corn markets, traders said.

CBOT May soyabeans ended down 8 cents at $15.19-1/4. The most-active contract hit its lowest price since Feb 15 at $15.17. CBOT May soyameal ended up $2 at $480 per short ton, and May soyaoil fell 0.96 cent to end at 61.22 cents per pound. Traders said the soya market had largely absorbed the latest reductions to forecasts for Argentina’s drought-hit crop.

The Buenos Aires grains exchange on Thursday pegged Argentina’s 2022/2023 soyabean crop at 33.5 million tonnes, down from 38 million tonnes previously. Weekly US soyabean export sales, reported by the US Department of Agriculture on Friday, totalled 556,600 tonnes. Analysts were expecting 300,000 to 1.15 million tonnes.