Chicago | Reuters – Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures rose to their highest prices in almost nine years on Monday amid a flurry of deals in the global export market.
Spillover strength from the rally helped lift CBOT corn futures against the backdrop of tightening world wheat supplies, traders said.
Saudi Arabia’s main state wheat buying agency said it bought about 1.268 million metric tonnes of milling wheat in a massive deal that exceeded some traders’ expectations.
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Egypt, the world’s biggest wheat importer, bought 180,000 tonnes.
“The wheat market takes on new highs amidst strong global demand,” CHS Hedging said in a note.
The most-active CBOT wheat contract settled 24-1/2 cents higher at $7.97-1/4 a bushel. The contract temporarily traded above $8 a bushel before trimming gains and reached the highest price for a most-active contract since December 2012.
K.C. hard red winter wheat touched the highest price for a front-month contract since May 2014, while the front-month MGEX spring wheat contract touched the highest since June 2011.
In Paris, Euronext wheat futures climbed to a 13-1/2-year high.
Supply concerns helped fuel gains, analysts said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, in a weekly report issued after the close of trading, rated 45 percent of the country’s winter wheat crop as being in good or excellent condition. That was down 1 percentage point from last week. Analysts expected an increase of 2 percentage points, according to a Reuters poll.
In Ukraine, another wheat producer, light rain showers this week leave at least half the crop too dry, Commodity Weather Group said.
In the CBOT corn market, the most-active contract ended up 10-3/4 cents at $5.79 a bushel. Soybeans settled down 1 cent at $12.48-1/2 a bushel.
The USDA’s weekly crop-progress report said soybean harvesting was 79 percent complete, below the average estimate of 81 percent. The corn harvest is 74 percent finished, USDA said, below the average estimate for 75 percent.
– Additional reporting by Tom Polansek in Chicago, Nigel Hunt in Paris and Naveen Thukral in Singapore
