GRAINS-Corn, wheat get boost from weaker dollar after multi-month lows

By Cassandra Garrison

CHICAGO, March 10 (Reuters) – Chicago wheat futures closed higher on Friday, boosted by a weaker dollar .DXY, after hitting a 20-month low, while corn futures rose from a seven-month low.

The markets recovered after a week that saw expectations for an extended Black Sea export deal and a lower U.S. government estimate for corn export demand, coupled with forecasts that El Nino will boost U.S. crops.

The weaker dollar tends to make U.S. grains more competitive globally.

The most active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Wv1 touched its lowest price since July 2021. The benchmark May soft red winter wheat contract WK3 rose 13-1/2 cents to settle at $6.79-1/4 a bushel.

Corn Cv1 closed 5-3/4 cents higher at $6.17-1/4 a bushel. The contract touched $6.06-3/4 during the session, the lowest level since August.

The benchmark May soybean futures contract SK3 settled down 3-3/4 cents at $15.07 a bushel.

The wheat Wv1 market has lost about 15% in the last four weeks, soybeans Sv1have given up some 2.5% over the same period while corn Cv1 is down about 10%.

The U.S. government weather forecaster said on Thursday that El Niño could possibly form during summer 2023 and persist through the fall, brightening U.S. crop outlooks.

The markets continue to wait for signs the wartime grain corridor from Ukraine will be extended beyond this month, increasing available global supplies. The U.S. and European wheat markets have been under pressure from Russian export competition.

“The overall tone of the markets remains negative, primarily due to the fact that Russia keeps offering it to the world market at cheap prices,” said Jack Scoville, market analyst at The Price Futures Group in the United States. “That keeps the demand away from us.”

A top U.N. trade official will meet senior Russian officials in Geneva next week to discuss extending the deal. However, Russia on Thursday said the deal to ensure safe exports of grain from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports was only being “half-implemented,” raising doubts about whether it would allow an extension.

(Reporting by Cassandra Garrison and Julie Ingwersen, Naveen Thukral; editing by Sonia Cheema, Emelia Sithole-Matarise, Chris Reese and Deepa Babington)

((Cassandra.garrison@thomsonreuters.com))

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