(Businessweek) – Wheat rose for the first time in three sessions on signs that winter crops in the U.S., the world’s biggest exporter, don’t have enough snow cover to insulate them from damage if temperatures drop.
While areas of the eastern U.S. contend with winter storms today, much of the Great Plains, including top winter-wheat grower Kansas, has no snow on the ground, National Weather Service data show. Parts of Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri and Oklahoma are under a wind-chill advisory for tonight, with temperatures in some areas feeling colder than 0 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 18 Celsius), the forecaster said.
“Right now winter kill is still potentially an issue,” Matt Ammermann, a risk management consultant with INTL FCStone in London, said by telephone today. “The U.S. has cold temperatures coming through the end of the month, and they have a lack of snow cover.”
Winter wheat crops, which are dormant in the U.S. before the harvest starts in June, can be damaged if soil temperatures drop below 10 degrees Fahrenheit “for a prolonged period of time,” according to a statement released by Kansas State University’s agricultural research and extension service last week. Winter varieties accounted for more than 70 percent of total U.S. wheat production last year, U.S. Department of Agriculture data show.
Soybeans for March delivery were unchanged at $12.805 a bushel in Chicago. Prices slumped 2.7 percent yesterday, the biggest loss since Sept. 30, on speculation that rain this week will boost yields in Brazil and Argentina.
