Wheat falls on ample Russian supplies, market eyes U.S. report
Chicago wheat lost ground on Monday, trading close to the last session’s 14-week low on pressure from abundant supplies from top exporter Russia and a lack of demand for U.S. cargoes.
Corn eased while soybeans ticked higher, with traders waiting for updated crop estimates from the U.S. government on Tuesday.
“There is no immediate issue with wheat supplies as there is a lot of wheat being shipped from Russia,” said one Singapore-based trader.
The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) gave up 0.2% to $5.94-3/4 a bushel by 0308 GMT after falling to $5.90-1/2 on Friday, the lowest since May 31.
Soybeans were 0.4% higher at $13.68-3/4 a bushel, while corn lost 0.1% to $4.83-1/4 a bushel.
Bumper Russian exports and weak overseas demand for U.S. wheat supplies continued to weigh on prices.
The European Union castigated Russia on Saturday for pulling out of the Black Sea grain deal, but Russia demanded that its conditions be met and Turkey’s president said any initiative on the deal that isolated Russia would likely fail.
Russia quit the Black Sea agreement in July, raising fears that Ukrainian grain would be cut off from world markets.
Wheat has continued to flow, but Ukrainian government data showed a sharp fall in grain exports to 467,000 metric tons between Sept. 1 and Sept. 7.
Traders said this could be due to Russian attacks and blockades on Ukrainian ports on the Danube River Black Sea.
Work is ongoing to diversify Ukraine’s export routes and Romania was set on Friday to approve a plan to upgrade road infrastructure in the Black Sea port of Constanta, helping more Ukrainian grain to transit.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) will issue its monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report on Sept. 12, with traders expecting revised forecasts from a month ago.
Expectations for large corn and soy supplies from South America have limited price gains for both grains despite hot and dry weather in the United States that has damaged crops.
In the soy market, the U.S. government said on Friday that exporters sold 121,000 metric tons of U.S. soybeans to China for delivery in the 2023/24 marketing year.
Commodity funds were net sellers of corn, wheat and soyoil but net buyers of soybeans and soymeal on Friday, traders said.
Official data, meanwhile, showed that large speculators increased their net short position in Chicago corn in the week to Sept. 5 while reducing their net short position in wheat and cutting their net long position in soybeans.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Peter Hobson and Naveen Thukral; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
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