(Reuters) – Chicago wheat rose on Wednesday as the market recovered from a more than three percent fall in the previous session, supported by a widely watched crop tour that found lower U.S. spring wheat yield prospects.
Corn edged higher after closing about half a percent lower while soybeans rose for a second session on bargain buying following a decline to three-month low on Tuesday.
The Chicago Board Of Trade’s most-active wheat contract rose 0.4 percent to $4.16-3/4 a bushel, having closed down 3.3 percent on Tuesday on pressure from ample global supplies.
Corn gained 0.4 percent to $3.40-3/4 a bushel and soybeans added 0.8 percent to $9.81-1/2 a bushel.
Yield prospects for hard red spring wheat in southeast North Dakota were below average following a dry spell earlier this year, scouts on an annual crop tour said on Tuesday.
The wheat crop in the southeastern corner of the state was developing one to two weeks ahead of normal, aided by early planting as well as dry weather in May and June that may have advanced the crop’s maturity.
Reduced estimates for the harvest in the top exporting region of the European Union had pushed Chicago wheat to a 10-day high on Monday, but ample global supplies are keeping a lid on prices.
“There are some periodic concerns about yields and adverse weather but overall global supplies are looking really good,” said Phin Ziebell, agribusiness economist at National Australia
Bank.
“You need to see a big decline in yields or significant period of adverse weather for prices to rally. There are some bargains to be had but beyond that it is all about fundamentals.”
For soybeans, extended weather forecasts reaching into August – the most crucial month for establishing U.S. yields – showed sufficient precipitation that could help offset the potential for stress caused by high temperatures.
Midday weather models on Tuesday showed a stronger ridge of high pressure in the central United States growing belt that could lead to increased dryness, according to an agriculture meteorologist at Lanworth, a division of Thomson Reuters.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture after the close of trading on Monday left good-to-excellent condition ratings unchanged for the U.S. soybean and corn crops, when analysts were predicting slightly lower ratings due to heat.
Historically high U.S. crop ratings increased the likelihood for higher-than-normal yields at harvest.
