Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures bounced on technical buying on Friday after nearing a six-month low struck a day earlier, though the market remained capped by sluggish U.S. exports and increased Black Sea shipments, analysts said.
Corn futures also strengthened, while soybeans edged lower as forecasts for rain in the U.S. Midwest tempered concerns about unfavourable dryness, traders said. Next week, traders will monitor reports from an annual tour in which scouts take crop measurements in hundreds of corn and soybean fields across key U.S. farm states.
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Much of the Corn Belt is dry, but showers are spreading across the upper Midwest, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a daily weather report. Any rain is beneficial for immature crops, including soybeans or late-planted corn, the report said.
“Corn prices firmed on crop concerns, while soybeans pulled back on spread trading, with traders thinking that the oilseed may be handling this month’s weather better than corn,” said Arlan Suderman, chief commodities economist for StoneX.
The most-active CBOT wheat contract settled up 22 cents, or 2.9 per cent, at $7.71 a bushel (all figures US$). Corn ended 7-1/2 cents, or 1.2 per cent, higher at $6.23-1/4 a bushel. Soybeans eased 1-1/4 cents, or 0.09 per cent, to close at $14.04 a bushel.
Grain is being loaded on an additional 10 cargo ships in Ukrainian Black Sea ports and prepared for shipment under a food export agreement brokered last month, Ukraine’s Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said.
The increase in Ukraine’s exports is helping to push down global wheat prices, according to a Hightower report.
Still, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said there was much more to do to ensure full global access to Ukrainian food products and Russian food and fertilizers.
“Generally speaking, the supply outlook remains positive, though it is still fraught with considerable uncertainty, which argues against any pronounced fall in wheat prices,” Commerzbank said.
— Reporting for Reuters by Tom Polansek in Chicago, Gus Trompiz in Paris and Naveen Thukral in Singapore.
