Chicago | Reuters — Chicago grains see-sawed on Monday, piggybacking on U.S. stocks that were spooked by global economic concerns after the tech-focused lender Silicon Valley Bank collapsed.
The most-active corn and soybean contracts closed weaker, while wheat rebounded slightly after finishing last week at a 20-month low.
Grains prices gyrated throughout the day as U.S. President Joe Biden vowed to do whatever was needed to avoid a potential banking crisis.
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“If you want to know what the grains are going to do, keep an eye on the stock market, because that’s really been the pressure the last day or two,” said Mark Gold of U.S. consultancy Top Third Ag Marketing.
Wheat prices were also driven higher on views that Kansas’ crop is lagging, Gold added, while corn and soy prices dipped on crude oil being down.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service in a weekly crop report on Monday rated 17 per cent of the winter wheat in top producer Kansas in good to excellent condition.
The benchmark Chicago Board of Trade May soft red winter wheat contract rose 0.77 per cent to settle at $6.84-1/2 a bushel (all figures US$).
Soybean futures dipped by 15-3/4 cents to end at $14.91-1/4 a bushel, with the most-active contract hitting its lowest price since March 2. Corn also settled down 3-3/4 cents at $6.13-1/2 a bushel.
Earlier in the day, Russia suggested extending the U.N.-brokered Black Sea Grain Initiative, which allows the safe export of grain from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports. Renewal before the deal expires on Saturday could pressure prices of corn and wheat that come from the region down.
But Russia only suggested extending the agreement for a period of 60 days, half the term of the previous renewal.
— Reporting for Reuters by Cassandra Garrison in Chicago; additional reporting by Michael Hogan in Hamburg and Naveen Thukral in Singapore.
