By Tom Polansek and Christopher Walljasper
CHICAGO, Sept 16 (Reuters) – Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures ended higher on Thursday after struggling for direction as traders assessed reduced harvest prospects in major exporting countries.
Corn and soybean futures were little changed after topping two-week highs.
Traders focused on global supply risks for wheat as Strategie Grains sharply lowered its projection for world output, partly due to a reduced estimate for the European Union.
Earlier this week, Statistics Canada issued lower-than-expected estimates for Canadian wheat production, while France reduced its soft wheat crop estimate. In Russia, analysts said farmers are expected to sow less winter wheat for next year’s harvest.
“The wheat market took a step back from recent moves higher from production cuts to the U.S., Canadian, EU and Black Sea wheat crops,” CHS Hedging said in a note.
Most-active CBOT wheat Wv1 ended 1-3/4 cents higher at $7.13 a bushel. It earlier rose to $7.16-3/4, its highest level since Sept. 8.
CBOT soybeans Sv1 added 1-1/2 cents at $12.96 a bushel, while corn Cv1 eased 4 cents to $5.29-1/2 a bushel. Both earlier touched their highest prices since Aug. 31.
Traders were monitoring early U.S. corn yield reports.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported China bought 132,000 tonnes of U.S. soybeans after canceling the same volume on Wednesday.
Early this week, Chinese importers bought four to six bulk cargoes of Brazilian soybeans for shipment in October and November, an unusual purchase during the peak U.S. export period, traders said on Wednesday.
U.S. export terminals along Louisiana’s Gulf Coast, the country’s busiest crop shipping outlet, have struggled to recover from damage from Hurricane Ida. nL1N2QH2ED]
The USDA on Thursday reported U.S. corn export sales in the week ended Sept. 9 were 248,900 tonnes, below trade expectations. Weekly U.S. soybean sales of 1,266,200 tonnes were in line with estimates.
(Reporting by Tom Polansek and Christopher Walljasper in Chicago Editing by Paul Simao)
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