GRAINS-Wheat near 1-wk high on supply concerns, corn around 6-wk low

By 
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Published: September 25, 2013

,

* Wheat up for 3rd day as frost hurts Argentine crop
    * Expectations of strong China demand support wheat
    * Corn trades near lowest since Aug 14, soy firm

 (Adds comment, detail)
    By Naveen Thukral
    SINGAPORE, Sept 25 (Reuters) - U.S. wheat rose for a third
session on Wednesday, climbing to its highest in a week as frost
threatened crops in Argentina and on expectations of strong
demand from China.
    Corn was little changed, trading near its lowest in six
weeks as seasonal harvest pressure continued to weigh on the
market, while soybeans rose as uncertainty over U.S. production
	

Read Also

The Canadian canola market is facing down international trade tensions and tariffs at the end of February 2025.

U.S. tariffs looming large over canola market

U.S. tariffs are one market headwind facing Canadian canola prices, but Chinese levies are another wrinkle coming down the pipe for farmers.

underpinned prices. Argentina's wheat belt was hit by frost early on Tuesday that threatened to damage 2013/14 crop yields, meteorologists said, warning that more cold weather was on the way. "Unfavourable crop conditions in Argentina could reduce the global supply of wheat and overseas buyers will turn to U.S. wheat," said Joyce Liu, an investment analyst at Phillip Futures Singapore. "China needs to import more wheat to meet its needs as bad weather ruined its domestic crop." Chicago Board of Trade December wheat rose as much as 0.3 percent to $6.60-1/2 a bushel, the highest since September 19. December corn was unchanged at $4.48-3/4 a bushel, not far from Tuesday's near six-week low of $4.48 a bushel. November soybeans gained 0.4 percent to $13.18-1/4 a bushel. Chinese wheat prices have hit record peaks due to dwindling high-quality supplies and growing expectations state purchase prices will rise before the planting season begins next month.
Beijing, keen to encourage farmers to grow more wheat for the 2014 harvest, is expected to announce an increase in the price it pays for grain for its national stockpiles before planting begins in October. In the corn market there was pressure from the advancing harvest in the United States. Satisfactory weather is expected over the next couple of weeks for harvesting of the 2013 U.S. corn and soybean crops, an agricultural meteorologist said. "There are also reports of better-than-expected yields during the early harvest of U.S. corn," said Liu. "Expectations of a record corn output will continue pressuring corn prices going forward." Reports of variable yields from the early soybean harvest dragged on prices for the oilseed. With the U.S. soybean harvest under way - 3 percent of the
crop had been cut by Sept. 22 - commodity analysts remain unsure about how many acres were planted last spring, making it difficult to determine the crop size of the world's largest producer. Prices at 0223 GMT Contract Last Change Pct chg MA 30 RSI CBOT wheat 659.25 1.00 +0.15% 866.38 66 CBOT corn 448.75 0.00 +0.00% 756.87 32 CBOT soy 1318.25 5.75 +0.44% 1574.48 38 CBOT rice $15.50 $0.01 +0.10% $15.48 46 WTI crude $103.28 $0.15 +0.15% $89.42 33 Currencies Euro/dlr $1.348 $0.119 USD/AUD 0.939 -0.117 Most active contracts Wheat, corn and soy US cents/bushel. Rice: USD per hundredweight RSI 14, exponential (Reporting by Naveen Thukral; Editing by Joseph Radford)

About the author

Reuters

Freelance Contributor

explore

Stories from our other publications