US wheat futures fell Wednesday for a third straight session on ample world supplies and strong competition for export business, analysts said. Corn was flat while soyabeans rose on bargain buying after falling almost 2 percent a day earlier when the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) forecast US soyabean stocks could rise to a nine-year high.
At the Chicago Board of Trade as of 12:45 pm CDT (1745 GMT), July wheat was down 6-1/4 cents at $4.74-1/4 per bushel. July soyabeans were up 2-3/4 cents at $9.58-1/4 a bushel and July corn was down 1/4 cent at $3.60-3/4. Trade was subdued amid generally benign crop weather in the US Midwest and plentiful global grain supplies. CBOT wheat rallied about 1.5 percent last week but remained anchored near multi-year lows due to poor demand for US supplies.
Tunisia's state grains agency bought 100,000 tonnes of milling wheat and 142,000 tonnes of durum wheat in a tender that closed on Wednesday, European traders said. One trader said some of the wheat was likely to be sourced in the Black Sea region. "Globally, (US wheat is) still too expensive," said Jim Gerlach of A/C Trading in Fowler, Indiana. "The last bid I saw for the Tunisian business, we were about $3 per metric tonne too high versus France, and that was before the freight difference," Gerlach said. CBOT soyabeans rose after falling sharply a day earlier when the USDA projected domestic 2015/16 soya stocks at 500 million bushels, topping trade expectations. CBOT corn was nearly flat, with rallies capped by generally favourable weather and a fast planting pace that should bolster US crop prospects.