Chicago | Reuters—Chicago wheat futures dipped from three-month highs on Monday on profit taking following the previous week’s rally sparked by crop concerns in Europe and escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine, traders said.
Corn and soy also fell on harvest pressure, while corn futures were weighed down by spillover weakness from wheat.
The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Wv1 fell 16-1/4 cents to end at $5.78-1/2 a bushel. CBOT corn Cv1 settled down 2-1/2 cents to $4.10-3/4 per bushel, while soybeans Sv1 settled down 1-3/4 cents at $10.04-1/2 per bushel.
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“Wheat’s had a good run as of late, but the underlying problems have not been solved,” Jim Gerlach, president of A/C Trading, said. “The major growing areas have issues, and those issues haven’t gotten better.”
A smaller crop in the European Union and dryness in the Black Sea and United States that could hamper winter wheat sowing have kept a bottom on wheat prices, Gerlach said.
However, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) last week raised its estimate for global wheat ending stocks, limiting price gains, analysts said.
The USDA is slated to release an update on corn and soy crop condition ratings and harvesting progress in a weekly report after trading ends on Monday.
Corn and soy futures have felt pressure as American farmers begin harvesting what is expected to be the second-largest corn crop in U.S. history and a record soy crop.
A strong U.S. crop will add to an ample world supply of corn, and soy and is expected to continue depressing prices, traders said.
—Additional reporting for Reuters by Peter Hobson in Canberra and Nigel Hunt in London; Editing by Rashmi Aich, Sumana Nandy, Will Dunham and Susan Fenton.
