(Businessweek) – Wheat futures rose in Chicago, heading for the biggest gain in three weeks, on signs demand from importers is improving after prices tumbled. Corn and soybeans climbed.
Japan, the largest buyer of U.S. wheat, agreed to resume purchases of the western-white variety, lifting a two-month ban imposed after the discovery of an unapproved gene-altered crop in Oregon. Egypt, the world’s biggest wheat importer, is tendering for the grain today, its fourth state purchase this month. China also has stepped up purchases of U.S. supplies as prices on the Chicago Board of Trade slumped to a 13-month low on July 25.
“There is a little bit of a bullish case you can make for wheat, in terms of extra demand coming on,” Dave Norris, an independent grain broker in Harrogate, England, said in a telephone interview today. “Japan is a bit supportive, Egypt is a bit supportive and China is a bit supportive.”
Wheat for delivery in September added 0.8 percent to $6.565 a bushel at 6:46 a.m. in Chicago, heading for the biggest gain since July 9. The most-active contract tumbled 16 percent this year as the U.S. Department of Agriculture pegged world output at a record 697.8 million metric tons on rising harvests in Russia and Europe.
In Paris, milling wheat for delivery in November rose 0.4 percent to 187 euros ($249) a ton on NYSE Liffe after yesterday touching the lowest level since December 2011.
Export Inspections
About 25.36 million bushels of U.S. wheat were inspected for export in the week ended July 25, up 4.9 percent from the prior period, the USDA said yesterday. The U.S. has sold or shipped 3.45 million tons of wheat to China since the marketing year began June 1, compared with about 339,200 tons a year ago, USDA data show.
Japan plans to buy 89,579 tons of U.S. western white wheat on Aug. 1, the first purchase since May 30, out of a total purchase of 178,212 tons of milling wheat from the U.S., Canada and Australia, according to tender details released by the government today.
Corn for delivery in December climbed 0.7 percent to $4.7675 a bushel in Chicago, rebounding from a six-session, 5.5 percent slide. Futures yesterday touched $4.7125, the lowest level for a most-active contract since October 2010.
Soybeans for delivery in November rose 0.2 percent to $12.22 a bushel after sliding to $12.0725, the lowest since February 2012, on July 26.
Corn lost 32 percent this year as the USDA expects the harvest to jump to a record 13.95 billion bushels, up 29 percent from last year, when drought parched fields. Late planting and slow crop maturity might leave crops vulnerable to an early freeze, DTN said in a report yesterday.
Sixty-three percent of the corn crop in main producing states was in good or excellent condition as of July 28, unchanged from a week earlier, the USDA said yesterday. Sixty-three percent of soybeans had the best ratings, down from 64 percent a week ago.
