Wheat Drops to 1-wk Low on Better US Crop Condition, Corn Eases for 3rd Day

(Hellenic Shipping) – Chicago wheat prices slid 1 percent on Tuesday, dropping to their lowest since April 2 amid the improved condition of the U.S. winter crop and abundant world supplies.

Corn eased for a third consecutive session ahead of a U.S. Department of Agriculture report which is expected to raise the outlook for stocks in the United States.

The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade had dropped 1 percent to $4.60-1/2 a bushel by 0341 GMT, after hitting its lowest since April 2 at $4.60-1/4 a bushel.

Corn fell 0.1 percent to $3.59-3/4 a bushel and soybeans were up half-a-cent at $8.99-1/4 a bushel.

The wheat market is facing pressure from improved condition of the winter crop which will be harvested in the coming months.

“(The) U.S. crop rating came in better than expected,” said a Singapore-based grains trader.

“U.S. prices are coming down, but Black Sea wheat is still cheaper for Asian buyers. Russian wheat is around $20 lower than U.S. wheat for August shipment.”

The USDA rated 60 percent of the U.S. winter wheat crop in good to excellent condition, up from 56 percent a week ago and above an average of analyst expectations for no change.

Corn futures are trading near a one-week low ahead of the USDA report. The average estimate among analysts surveyed by Reuters for the amount of corn left over at the end of the 2018/19 marketing year was 1.991 billion bushels, up from USDA’s March forecast of 1.835 billion.

U.S. farmers have begun planting the 2019 U.S. corn crop in southern fringes of the crop belt. After the CBOT close, the USDA reported U.S. corn planting progress as 2 percent complete, matching the five-year average and an average of analyst expectations.

A storm is forecast to bring rain and potentially heavy snow to northwestern portions of the U.S. Corn Belt on Wednesday and Thursday.

The storm could drop 6 to 12 inches of snow, with a few local amounts of 18 inches, on parts of South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin, the Commodity Weather Group said in a note to clients.

The soybean market is focused on U.S.-China trade talks. U.S. officials are “not satisfied yet” about all the issues standing in the way of a deal to end the U.S.-China trade war but made progress in talks with China last week, a top White House official said on Monday.

Commodity funds were net sellers of CBOT corn, wheat and soyoil futures contracts on Monday and net buyers of soymeal and soybeans, traders said.