Grains-Wheat Eases on Supply Pressure, Soybeans Up for Second Day

(Agriculture.com) – Chicago wheat lost ground on Monday after finishing the last two weeks lower, as the market faced pressure from abundant world supplies and an outlook for a bumper northern hemisphere crop. Soybeans rose for a second session although gains were checked by higher production in South America. The wheat market is being weighed down by amply supplied world market. Wheat production in top exporters Russia and the United States is expected to be above average with crops benefiting from friendly weather. “Wheat crops look good in most big producing countries when you look at the Black Sea region, Europe and North America but critical period for growth is May and June, just before the harvest in July,” said a Singapore-based grains trader at an international trading company. The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade was down 0.5 percent at $4,46 a bushel, as of 0355 GMT, soybeans gained 0.1 percent to $8.81-3/4 a bushel and corn lost 0.2 percent to $3.57-3/4 a bushel.

U.S. soybean inventories have swelled as the Sino-U.S. trade war has hurt shipments of American beans to Chinese buyers. China has instead made purchases from Brazil, which is expected to harvest a bigger-than-expected crop and cause stiff competition in the world market. The Argentine government estimated its 2018-19 corn harvest at 55 million tonnes on Wednesday, and predicted the 2018-19 soy harvest at 55.9 million tonnes. The estimates are higher than the previous season’s harvests of soybeans and corn which were 37.78 million tonnes and 43.46 million tonnes, respectively, according to the government, after a historic drought damaged crops significantly.

Corn, wheat and soybean markets are likely to take direction from a weekly planting progress report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture report. Large speculators increased their net short position in CBOT corn futures in the week to April 16, regulatory data released on Friday showed. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly commitments of traders report also showed that non-commercial traders, a category that includes hedge funds, increased their net short position in CBOT wheat and increased their net short position in soybeans. Grains prices at 0355 GMT Contract Last Change Pct chg Two-day chg MA 30 RSI CBOT wheat 446.00 -2.25 -0.50% -0.22% 459.02 28 CBOT corn 357.75 -0.75 -0.21% -0.14% 366.02 38 CBOT soy 881.75 1.25 +0.14% +0.31% 897.07 33 CBOT rice 10.44 $0.01 +0.14% -0.38% $10.71 45 WTI crude 65.48 $1.48 +2.31% +2.70% $61.22 Currencies Euro/dlr $1.124 -$0.001 -0.09% +0.06% USD/AUD 0.7136 -0.002 -0.22% -0.20% Most active contracts Wheat, corn and soy US cents/bushel. Rice: USD per hundredweight RSI 14, exponential