Wheat falls for 3rd day as U.S., Black Sea weather improves

In Commodity News 13/01/2017

Chicago wheat futures slid for a third session on Thursday, trading near one-week lows as the market faced pressure from forecasts of favourable weather in the U.S. Plains and the Black Sea region.

Corn and soybeans lost more ground as investors in agricultural markets awaited key U.S. government reports due at 1700 GMT.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will release a series of reports, including U.S. quarterly grain stocks, U.S. annual crop

production, U.S. winter wheat seeding and its monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates.

“The weather is a key player in the wheat market, U.S. and other regions, including Ukraine are looking good,” said Rajesh Singla, head of agriculture research at Societe Generale.

“The second issue is the number of acres U.S. farmers planted with wheat because the cost of production is much higher

than the current price. If there is a big decline in acreage, let’s say 5 to 10 pct, it will support wheat prices.”

The Chicago Board of Trade most-active wheat contract had fallen 0.2 percent to $4.18 a bushel by 0317 GMT, having

closed down 1.9 percent on Wednesday when prices hit a one-week low of $4.12 a bushel.

Corn gave up 0.3 percent to $3.56-1/4 a bushel and soybeans lost 0.4 percent to $10.07-3/4 a bushel.

Wheat is being pressured by expectations that weekend storms would help recharge soil moisture in Oklahoma and Kansas, where dry conditions have stressed dormant hard red winter wheat crops.

A substantial snow layer has protected Ukrainian and Russian winter crops from severe frosts which came this weekend, analyst and weather forecasters said on Tuesday.

For soybeans, an all-time high Brazilian production is likely to provide headwinds to the market.

Brazil is likely to produce a record 2016-17 soybean crop of 104.4 million tonnes, up from a November estimate of 102.6 million tonnes, as favourable climate conditions boostproduction prospects, consultancy Agroconsult said on Wednesday.

China has increased punitive tariffs on imports of a U.S. animal feed ingredient known as distillers’ dried grains (DDGS) from levels first proposed last year, potentially escalating a trade spat between the world’s two largest economies.

Commodity funds were net sellers of CBOT wheat, corn and soymeal futures on Wednesday. They were net buyers of CBOT soybeans and soyoil.

 Grains prices at  0317 GMT

 Contract    Last     Change  Pct chg  Two-day chg  MA 30    RSI
CBOT wheat  418.00   -0.75   -0.18%   -2.17%       409.72   58

 CBOT soy    1007.75  -3.75   -0.37%   +0.25%       1026.32  51
CBOT corn   356.25   -1.00   -0.28%   -1.04%       354.33   56
 CBOT rice   9.63     $0.02   +0.21%   -0.62%       $9.79    46

 Euro/dlr    $1.060   $0.002  +0.14%   +0.40%                
WTI crude   52.17    -$0.08  -0.15%   +2.66%       $52.18   46
 Currencies                                                  

 USD/AUD     0.7460   0.002   +0.27%   +1.26%

Most active contracts

Wheat, corn and soy US cents/bushel. Rice: USD per hundredweight

RSI 14, exponential

Source: Reuters (Reporting by Naveen Thukral)