Chicago | Reuters — U.S. wheat futures rose on Monday, led by a 2.2 per cent gain in the benchmark Chicago Board of Trade May soft red winter wheat contract, as traders focused on the condition of the crop after severe cold snaps in key growing regions.

“Wheat is receiving some support from cold weather in Black Sea export countries,” StoneX commodity risk manager Matt Ammermann said. “Global wheat markets continue to focus on the need to replace Russian supplies following Russia’s grain export taxes.”

Adding support were concerns about cold temperatures and dry soils in parts of the U.S. Plains, including the top hard red winter wheat production state of Kansas.

The gains in wheat lent strength to corn futures, while soybeans rallied as a slow pace of harvest in Brazil raised expectations of an extended window for U.S. exports.

All three commodities remained within recent trading ranges after hitting multi-year highs earlier in 2021.

“Markets need to take a breather,” said Dan Hussey, senior market strategist at Zaner Group. “We have had a great bullish run, but bull markets need to be fed.”

Chicago Board of Trade May soft red winter wheat futures settled up 14-1/4 cents at $6.69-3/4 a bushel (all figures US$).

Weakness in the dollar, which makes wheat relatively less expensive to overseas buyers, added support.

CBOT May corn was up 8-3/4 cents at $5.50-1/2 a bushel and CBOT May soybeans were 7-1/2 cents higher at $13.87-1/2 a bushel.

Consultancy AgRural said farmers in Brazil had harvested just 15 per cent of their soybeans as of last Thursday. The harvest pace was the slowest in the past 10 years.

The U.S. Agriculture Department said on Monday morning that weekly export inspections of corn totaled 1.232 million tonnes. Export inspections of soybeans were 721,845 tonnes and export inspections of wheat were 324,597 tonnes.

— Reporting for Reuters by Mark Weinraub in Chicago; additional reporting by Colin Packham in Canberra and Michael Hogan in Hamburg.