GRAINS-Wheat recovers from 6-month low; soybeans, corn ease

Chicago wheat futures edged up on Thursday after hitting a six-month low in the previous session, as participants awaited news on further grain shipments from Ukraine under a maritime corridor agreement.

Corn ticked lower as the market remained curbed by the resumption of sea exports from war-torn Ukraine as well as more favourable weather forecasts in the U.S. Midwest.

Soybeans also inched down, with macro-economic uncertainty also hanging over grain and oilseed markets.

The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Wv1 was up 0.1% at $7.64-1/4 bushel by 0856 GMT, after dropping to its lowest since early February at $7.52 a bushel on Wednesday.

This week’s departure of a first grain vessel from Odesa port, along with ongoing northern hemisphere harvesting, has eased supply concerns in wheat, although brisk demand from importers has lent some support to prices.
Crude oil touching a near six-month low on Wednesday had also weighed on grains, reflecting investor concerns about weakening economic demand and geopolitical tensions over Taiwan. O/R
“The macro environment is on the negative side of the ledger, adding additional bearish pressure to Ukraine export headlines, better U.S. Midwest rains and bearish seasonals,” Peak Trading Research said in a note.

The first grain vessel to leave a Ukrainian sea port since the start of the war was inspected in Turkey on Wednesday before its onward journey to Lebanon, fuelling market expectations that further loadings may follow under the safe-passage agreement.

Soybeans and corn were pressured by weather charts, suggesting more widespread rain and less extensive heat in the U.S. Midwest in the week ahead.

However, traders are still cautious given parched conditions in part of the central U.S. crop belt, with attention starting to turn towards next week’s monthly production forecasts from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

CBOT soybeans Sv1 lost 0.2% to $13.67-1/4 a bushel and corn Cv1 gave up 0.5% to $5.93-1/2 a bushel.

Grain markets will get an update on demand from weekly U.S. export sales data later on Thursday.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Naveen Thukral in Singapore; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Rashmi Aich)