Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures sank 1.4 percent to fresh contract lows on Monday, pressured by poor demand for US supplies from overseas buyers, traders said. The drop in wheat weighed on corn futures while soyabean futures edged higher, underpinned by concerns about crop development in South America. The US Agriculture Department on Monday reported weekly wheat export inspections of 344,721 tonnes, in line with estimates for 200,000 tonnes to 400,000 tonnes.
At 11:06 am CST (1606 GMT), the benchmark CBOT March soft red winter wheat futures contract was down 6 cents at $4.28-3/4 a bushel after hitting a low of $4.28 earlier in the session. Deferred soft red winter wheat contracts and K.C. hard red winter wheat offerings also set new lows on Monday. CBOT December corn futures were down 3 cents at $3.39-1/4 a bushel. Corn futures held support near Friday's lows.
CBOT January soyabean futures were 1-3/4 cents higher at $9.95 a bushel. Weekly soyabean export inspections came in at 1.579 million tonnes, near the low end of market forecasts for 1.5 million to 1.8 million tonnes. Corn export inspections of 638,711 tonnes also were in line with the range of expectations. The most-active soyabean contract pared gains after topping $10 a bushel for the first time since November 9. The January contract had neared that key psychological threshold the previous two sessions but failed to top it both times. Weakness in soyaoil also weighed on the soyabean market.
World soyaoil prices will fall after India's decision this month to raise an import tax on edible oil to the highest level in more than a decade, Argentina's export industry chamber said on Friday.