SINGAPORE: Chicago wheat futures eased on Friday but the market was on track for their biggest weekly gain in two years, as dry weather in parts of Russia and the United States threatened to curb supplies.
Corn firmed, with the market set for its biggest weekly rise in 11 months. Soybeans were little changed, on track for the first weekly rise in more than a month.
“For southern Russia and eastern Ukraine, recent dryness is becoming more of a concern,” according to a Rabobank report.
“Rainfall has been notably below normal levels over the past month, and the one-week forecast shows limited precipitation.
Should dryness continue in May, we could begin to see significant estimate downgrades.“
The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) fell 0.2% to $6.19-1/4 a bushel, as of 0317 GMT, corn added 0.2% to $4.52-3/4 a bushel and soybeans flat at $11.79-3/4 a bushel.
Dry weather in some Russian and US wheat producing regions kept attention focused on spring weather risks to northern hemisphere crops, encouraging investors to cover some of their large short positions in wheat.
Forecasts showed limited rain relief in southern Russia until at least early May, though parts of the US Plains could get moisture this week.
For week, wheat is up 9.3%, the biggest rise since March 2022, corn has added 4.4%, the most since May last year and soybeans have gained 1.2%.
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The European Commission on Thursday cut its forecast for the European Union’s main wheat crop in 2024/25 to a new four-low as it projected a bigger fall in area than previously expected.
In supply and demand data, the Commission pegged usable production of common wheat, or soft wheat, at 120.2 million metric tons, down from 120.8 million in its initial outlook last month and still the lowest since 2020.
For soybeans, dry and hot weather throughout the season in northern Argentina may lead the Buenos Aires grains exchange to reduce its estimate for the country’s 2023/24 soybean crop, currently sitting at 51 million metric tons, the exchange said on Thursday.
South African farmers are expected to harvest 18.5% less maize in the 2023/2024 season compared with the previous one, the government’s Crop Estimates Committee (CEC) said on Thursday.
Commodity funds were net buyers of CBOT wheat, corn and soyoil futures contracts on Thursday, traders said.
Funds were net sellers of soybean and soymeal futures, traders said.