Wheat Set for Longest Winning Streak Since January on Dryness
Category: Grains
(Bloomberg) – Wheat gained for a fourth day, the longest winning streak since January, on speculation dry weather in the U.S., Australia and Russia will curb yields in the world’s three biggest shippers this year.
The July-delivery contract gained as much as 1.4 percent to $6.4775 a bushel, extending yesterday’s 5 percent jump, the biggest advance for the most-active contract since March 30. It was up 0.4 percent at $6.41 by 11:24 a.m. in London.
Parts of central and southern plains in the U.S. were mainly dry, with temperatures in north-central and central Kansas rising to 79 to 92 degrees Fahrenheit while warm temperatures were also felt across east areas of North Caucasus Russia, the lower Volga valley and eastern Ukraine, Telvent DTN Inc. said in a report yesterday. In Australia’s eastern grain belt, large areas had dryness, slowing planting progress, Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. said.
“Obviously, when there are concerns about supplies, that tends to be positive for prices,” Michael Creed, an agribusiness economist at National Australia Bank Ltd., said by phone from Melbourne today.
Rainfall in Kansas, the largest U.S. grower of winter-wheat, was scarce in the week ended May 13, according to a government weekly bulletin.
Milling wheat futures jumped 0.9 percent to 205 euros ($206.31) a metric ton on NYSE Liffe in Paris.
Corn Prices
Corn for July delivery fell 0.2 percent to $6.19 a bushel, after jumping 3.8 percent yesterday. Futures advanced after the U.S. Department of Agriculture said that China bought 900,000 metric tons of the grain from U.S. exporters, including 660,000 tons previously reported as sold to unknown destination.
“China is becoming an increasingly important buyer of corn, mirroring the role that it plays in soybeans,” NAB’s Creed said. “Any news on what China’s import program is like certainly does have a price impact.”
Production of soybeans in China, the world’s largest buyer of the oilseed, may fall 7.1 percent to 13 million tons in 2012 from a year earlier, according to the China National Grain and Oils Information Center.
Soybeans for July delivery gained for a third day, rising 0.5 percent to $14.29 a bushel.
To contact the reporter on this story: Luzi Ann Javier in Singapore at ljavier@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Poole at jpoole4@bloomberg.net
