GRAINS-U.S. wheat futures hit lowest since February; corn, soy also weak

By Mark Weinraub

CHICAGO, July 15 (Reuters) – Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures tumbled to a five-month low on Friday, with hopes for a pick-up in exports from war-torn Ukraine threatening the recent gains made in demand for U.S. supplies, traders said. Corn futures weakened after posting gains in six of the seven previous sessions, but concerns about hot weather stressing the U.S. crop as it passes through pollination limited the declines.

Soybeans eased, giving up early gains after running into technical resistance.

The benchmark Chicago Board of Trade September soft red winter wheat contract WU2 has fallen 13.2% so far this week, which would be the biggest weekly loss in percentage terms for the most-active contract Wv1 since March 2011.

“The strong dollar, harvest pressure, and ideas of progress on a corridor for Ukraine to ship grain continue to weigh on the market,” brokerage FuturesOne said in a research note.

Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations are due to sign a deal next week aimed at resuming Black Sea grain exports from Ukraine, which have been severely hampered by the war there.

At 11:01 a.m. CDT (1601 GMT), CBOT September soft red winter wheat was down 20 cents at $7.75 a bushel, on pace for its fifth straight losing session. Prices bottomed out at $7.68-1/2, the lowest for the most-active contract since Feb. 11.

The disruption to Black Sea shipping routes caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sparked a rally that pushed wheat futures near record highs by early March. Prices have retreated to pre-war levels but were still about $1 higher than they were a year ago.

CBOT December corn CZ2 was down 1-1/2 cents at $5.99-1/2 a bushel and CBOT November soybeans SX2 were 4 cents lower at $13.37 a bushel.

(Additional reporting by Naveen Thukral in Singapore, Michael Hogan in Hamburg and Nigel Hunt in London; Editing by Rashmi Aich, Anil D’Silva and Diane Craft)

((mark.weinraub@thomsonreuters.com; +1 313 484 5282; Reuters Messaging: mark.weinraub.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.