(Bloomberg) – Wheat fell, paring an annual gain, on speculation that global supplies are ample. Soybeans fell.
World wheat inventories at the end of this season May 31 may total 176.95 million metric tons, up 1.6 percent from an earlier forecast, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Dec. 11. India, the world’s second-biggest producer, on Dec. 26 approved an extra 2.5 million tons of exports. The harvest inChina, the biggest grower, will rise in the next year, the agriculture ministry said on Dec. 25.
“The demand-supply situation continues to be fairly stable on the back of higher supply and inventories,” said Faiyaz Hudani, a senior analyst at Mumbai-based Kotak Commodity Services Ltd.
Wheat for March delivery fell 1.1 percent to $7.7025 a bushel at 6:01 a.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade, trimming this year’s gain for the most-active contract to 18 percent. On Dec. 27, futures dropped to $7.645, the lowest price since July. Down 13 percent since September, wheat is heading for its worst quarter since June 2011.
In Paris, milling wheat for March delivery declined 0.7 percent to 248 euros ($327) a ton on NYSE Liffe. It’s up 27 percent this year, heading for a 5.2 percent loss this quarter.
Corn for March delivery fell 0.6 percent to $6.90 a bushel in Chicago, trimming this year’s gain to 6.7 percent. Soybeans for March delivery dropped 1 percent to $14.035 a bushel, heading for a 16 percent increase in 2012.
“Recent export figures for corn and soybeans have been disappointing,” economist Dennis Gartman said today in his daily Gartman Letter. U.S. exporters sold 104,303 tons of corn in the week ended Dec. 20, 13 percent less than a week earlier, while soybean sales at 86,976 tons were the smallest since September, the USDA said Dec. 28.
To contact the reporters on this story: Ranjeetha Pakiam in Kuala Lumpur at rpakiam@bloomberg.net; Whitney McFerron in Chicago at wmcferron1@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net
