Chicago | Reuters — U.S. wheat futures rebounded from a one-month low on Friday, gaining 1.1 per cent on a round of bargain-buying and renewed interest on the export market, traders said.
Soybeans also were firm but corn was weaker on a technical setback.
News that Chinese buyers had booked a large amount of feed wheat from France and Australia also raised the prospect of importers stepping up purchases following the price fall in the last week.
Chinese buyers have also booked French and Ukrainian barley along with Ukrainian corn since last week to cover feed grain needs, trade sources told Reuters.
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A further planned rise in Russia’s wheat export tax for next week also kept attention on underlying strength in export prices.
“U.S. wheat suppliers are left out of the party for now, but I expect exports will pick up as long as the Russian export taxes remain high,” John Payne, a broker at StoneX, said in a note to clients.
Chicago Board of Trade March soft red winter wheat futures settled up 8-1/2 cents at $7.85-1/4 a bushel (all figures US$).
Wheat initially extended losses in overnight trading, hitting its lowest since Dec. 9, following Thursday’s U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report that included increased forecasts of world and U.S. wheat stocks.
CBOT March corn was down 1-3/4 cents at $5.90 a bushel. The contract, which had risen in the three previous trading sessions, turned lower after hitting resistance at the high end of its 20-day Bollinger range, a level it has not closed above since Nov. 1.
“Corn struggled to get momentum in either direction and slipped in quiet trading,” Charlie Sernatinger, global head of grain futures at ED+F Man Capital, said in a note to clients.
CBOT January soybeans were up 3-1/4 cents at $12.67-3/4 a bushel.
— Mark Weinraub is a Reuters commodities correspondent in Chicago; additional reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Naveen Thukral in Singapore.
