Wheat prices dip after US lifts supply hopes
Category: Grains
(AgriMoney) – Wheat prices extended losses, hitting a five-month low in Chicago, after US farm officials ditched expectations of a drop in domestic inventories this season, citing “higher expected competition” in export markets.
Wheat futures for March delivery fell nearly 2% to $8.31 a bushel in morning deals in Chicago, the contract’s lowest since July 7, while Paris’s benchmark January lot hit its weakest since October.
The declines followed an upgrade by the US Department of Agriculture of 50m bushels to its forecast for domestic wheat inventories at the close of 2012-13.
The revision was bigger than investors had expected, and meant that US wheat stocks now look on course to rise during the season, despite extra demand for the grain as feed, following this year’s dismal corn harvest.