WHEAT PRICES SLIP FOR SECOND DAY AS U.S. COLD WEATHER FEARS EASE

Chicago wheat futures slid on Thursday for a second straight session as concerns eased about crop losses from recent cold weather across the United States.

Soybeans rose on the back of strong demand, while corn was largely unchanged.

“There have been worries about cold weather damage to the U.S. winter crop but snow cover in some of the areas could have prevented the damage,” said Phin Ziebell, agribusiness economist at National Australia Bank in Melbourne.

The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was down 0.1% to $6.47-1/4 a bushel by 0340 GMT, after closing 1.4% lower in the previous session. It had gained more than 3% on Tuesday.

Soybeans gained 0.2% to $13.86-1/4 a bushel and corn was unchanged at $5.53 a bushel.

Wheat is under pressure from forecasts that called for temperatures to moderate in the Plains winter wheat belt over the next two weeks.

The market is now awaiting U.S. acreage and usage forecasts expected from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s annual two-day outlook forum, which starts on Thursday.

In South America, more rainfall is expected in parts of Brazil in the week ahead, but soy harvesting is still expected to progress, while showers could ease dryness in Argentina.

Strong demand continues to drive soybean prices higher.

U.S. soybean processors marked their second-largest monthly crush on record in January, the latest in a string of historically active months of soy processing, according to data released by the National Oilseed Processors Association on Tuesday.

Commodity funds were net sellers of CBOT wheat, soyoil and soybean futures contracts on Wednesday, net buyers of soymeal and roughly even in corn, traders said.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Naveen Thukral; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)