Wheat firms on global supply worries, soybeans, corn firm

Chicago wheat futures rose 1.7%% on Monday, with prices supported by concerns over global supplies, while soybeans and corn ticked higher.

The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) added 1.7% to $7.93-1/4 a bushel as of 0707 GMT. Soybeans rose 0.1% to $14.15 a bushel and corn quarter of a cent to 0.5% to $6.16-1/2 a bushel.

The wheat market is being supported by a global supply crunch.

The U.S. Agriculture Department (USDA) said private exporters reported the sale of 132,000 tonnes of soybeans to China and 247,800 tonnes of corn to unknown destinations.

Separately, USDA said weekly export sales of soybeans totalled 1.199 million tonnes, up 30.5% from a week earlier. Corn export sales of 1.196 million tonnes were near the high end of market forecasts.

Large speculators cut their net long position in CBOT corn futures in the week to Jan. 18, regulatory data released on Friday showed.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly commitments of traders report also showed that non-commercial traders, a category that includes hedge funds, trimmed their net short position in CBOT wheat and cut their net long position in soybeans.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Naveen Thukral; Editing by Rashmi Aich)