Wheat up for 3rd session on U.S. weather concerns, soybeans rise

Chicago wheat futures rose for a third consecutive session on Thursday, as forecasts of freezing temperatures across key U.S. growing areas threatened crops.

Soybeans edged higher with support from dry weather in Argentina.

“The unusually cold temperatures pose a risk for U.S. winter grain damage over the next week for uncovered areas,” said Terry Reilly, senior commodity analyst with Futures International in Chicago.

“Lack of snow coverage stretches across a majority of Kansas, Texas, and Oklahoma.”

The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) rose 0.2% to $7.69-1/4 a bushel, as of 0253 GMT, soybeans added 0.1% to $14.86-1/4 a bushel, and corn rose quarter a cent to $6.62-1/2 a bushel.

Hard red winter wheat crop in the U.S. Plains as well as soft red wheat east of the Mississippi River could face winterkill, as temperatures are forecast to drop further on Friday.

For soybeans, extended forecasts for Argentina, the world’s leading exporter of soybean products, show a return to dry conditions, which could further delay planting and erode yields.

Brazil, the world’s biggest soybean exporter, is far less affected by the dry weather, and is expected to begin harvesting soybeans by late January.

China’s November soybean imports from the United States fell 6.9% from a year earlier, data showed on Tuesday, after low U.S. river levels slowed shipping of beans to ports for export.

China, which is the world’s biggest soybean buyer, imported 3.38 million tonnes of the oilseed from the United States last month, down from 3.63 million tonnes a year earlier, according to the General Administration of Customs.

Ukraine’s corn production could fall to 22-23 million tonnes this year from 41.9 million in 2021 because of a reduction in the harvested area caused by Russia’s invasion, its agriculture minister said on Wednesday.

Commodity funds were net buyers of CBOT wheat, corn, soybeans, soyoil and soymeal futures contracts on Wednesday, traders said.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Naveen Thukral; editing by Uttaresh.V)