Chicago | Reuters—U.S. wheat futures closed higher on Thursday on concerns over the limited availability of supplies for export in Russia, analysts said.
Corn and soybean futures consolidated near multi-month lows as traders looked ahead to monthly U.S. Department of Agriculture crop estimates due on Friday.
The agency is expected to trim its estimate for all-wheat production in the United States, analysts said in a Reuters poll.
In Russia, the world’s biggest wheat exporter, a slow start to harvesting and reluctant selling by farmers were forcing exporters to raise prices as they tried to secure supplies to load vessels, according to traders.
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Moscow ordered measures to boost agriculture exports after international sales of wheat fell to their lowest since 2008.
“Russia’s wheat harvest is lagging so supplies for the new crop are currently tight,” said Terry Reilly, senior agricultural strategist for Marex.
The most active wheat contract Wv1 on the Chicago Board of Trade finished up 7-1/2 cents at $5.54-1/2 a bushel, breaking a four-session fall.
Investors hold large short positions in CBOT wheat, making the market prone to short-covering moves.
European wheat futures also advanced.
Traders said supply tensions should be short-lived, with the Russian harvest expected to accelerate in the coming days and a large volume still forecast.
In CBOT soybeans, the most-active contract Sv1 hit a three-month low before turning higher. Corn futures remained near an eight-month low touched in late June.
Favourable Midwest weather continues to hang over the markets, fuelling expectations of bumper U.S. harvests that would add to big crops in rival exporter Brazil.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal on Wednesday for a 50 per cent tariff on imports from Brazil was not seen directly affecting grains, unlike other farm commodities like coffee.
But weakness in Brazil’s currency, the real, could have a bearish knock-on effect on grain markets by encouraging Brazilian farmers to sell their crops, traders said.
CBOT soybeans Sv1 ended 6-1/2 cents higher at $10.13-3/4 a bushel, and corn Cv1 rose 1 cent to $4.16-1/2 a bushel.
—Reporting by Tom Polansek in Chicago, Gus Trompiz in Paris and Naveen Thukral in Singapore
