(Businessweek) – Wheat futures fell for the first time this week on speculation that global production will surge to a record in the year that starts on June 1. Corn rallied and soybeans declined.
The world will harvest 701.1 million metric tons of wheat next year, the most-ever, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a report on May 10. Russian will expand output by 48 percent to 56 million tons, while Ukraine’s crop surges 40 percent, USDA data show. The agency predicts the U.S. will be the biggest exporter next year, followed by Canada, Russia, Australia and Ukraine. Prices are down 9.6 percent this year.
“If you look at most of the key growing regions, we’re looking at a large wheat crop worldwide,” Jonathon Driedger, a senior market analyst at FarmLink Marketing Solutions, said in a telephone interview from Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Wheat futures for July delivery fell 1.1 percent to $7.03 a bushel at 10:33 a.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade. Prices slipped into a bear market in January and are down 26 percent since reaching a four-year closing high on July 20.
Corn futures for July delivery rose 0.3 percent to $6.545 a bushel in Chicago. Soybean futures for delivery in July slid 0.1 percent to $14.1275 a bushel on the CBOT.
