(Reuters) – U.S. wheat futures edged up on Friday, poised to record their biggest three-week gain in nearly 19 months, as forecasts for unfavorable weather supported prices.
Soybeans edged lower but were on course for a third straight weekly rise, while corn was little changed.
Chicago Board of Trade March wheat rose 0.1 percent to $6.16-3/4 a bushel by 0227 GMT, having closed down 0.65 percent on Thursday. Spot wheat is up more than 3 percent for the week, bringing gains over three weeks to nearly 11 percent — the biggest such rise since July, 2012.
“For the last few weeks, the focus has been on the weather,” said Vanessa Tan, investment analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore. “U.S. winter crop has been put at risk from winterkill.”
Snowstorms are expected across the northern U.S. Midwest, bringing 4 to 10 inches to parts of Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin starting on Wednesday night and continuing into Thursday, a forecaster said.
Chicago March soybeans edged down 0.13 percent to $13.56-1/2 a bushel, having closed up 0.3 percent in the previous session, but a government forecast for acreage expansion that came in below market expectations curbed losses.
The U.S. Agriculture Department pegged 2014/15 U.S. soybean acreage at a record 79.5 million, 3 million acres above 2013 but below market forecasts.
Soybeans are up more than a percent for the week, their third straight weekly gain, underpinned by concerns about weather in Brazil, where dry conditions were limiting crop production in northeastern states while rainy weather in other areas were slowing harvest.
March corn was unchanged at $4.55-3/4 a bushel, having closed up 0.44 percent in the previous session.
The USDA said it expected corn acreage to decline to 92.0 million acres as part of a 0.7 percent reduction in the space U.S. farmers will devote to the eight major field crops this year.
Corn is up 2.4 percent for the week, heading for a fifth straight weekly gain – the longest weekly winning streak since the middle of 2012.
