Chicago wheat turns higher, corn and soy also edge up

(Agriculture.com) – Chicago wheat futures rebounded
from a one-week low on Thursday as the market remained
underpinned by crop concerns in the United States, Australia and
Ukraine.

Corn and soybean prices were also higher as a weaker dollar
helped to support commodities denominated in the U.S. currency.

The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade
was up 0.4 percent at $5.24 a bushel at 1035 GMT after
dipping to a low of $5.15-1/4, the weakest since May 22.

Dealers noted a mixed outlook for U.S. crops with spring
wheat set to benefit from cooler, wetter weather but the
forecast less positive in winter wheat regions.

“Warm temperatures will continue through ten days from the
U.S. Southern Plains into the Corn Belt, with the main negative
impact being on winter wheat given the ongoing Plains drought,”
Thomson Reuters Weather Research analyst Isaac Hankes said in a
daily update issued late on Wednesday.

Hot, dry weather in Australia also remains a concern.

“There are forecasts for improved weather for spring wheat
in the U.S. and Canada and that is adding pressure on prices,”
said Phin Ziebell, agribusiness economist at National Australia
Bank.

“But we still have worries for the Australian crop, which is
in need of rains.”

Dry weather could also curb yields in Ukraine.

Ukraine’s 2018 winter wheat harvest is likely to fall to 24
million tonnes from 25.4 million tonnes in 2017 due to extremely
dry weather this spring, the head of the state weather
forecasting department said on Thursday.

December wheat on Paris-based Euronext rose 0.7
percent to 184.50 euros a tonne.

Egypt, the world’s biggest wheat importer, has rejected a
cargo of Russian wheat because it contained excessive levels of
the common grain fungus ergot, an Agriculture Ministry spokesman
said on Thursday.

Chicago soybean and corn prices also rebounded after falling
on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Soybeans were up 0.2 percent at $10.25 a bushel and
corn rose 0.8 percent to $3.96-1/2 a bushel.

Dealers said the market continued to keep a close watch on
trade tensions between the United States and China.

China is the world’s biggest soybean importer and the top
buyer of U.S. sorghum, a feed grain that competes with corn.
(Additional reporting by Naveen Thukral; Editing by Dale
Hudson)