GRAINS-Wheat eases on Australia harvest and Black Sea exports

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GRAINS-Wheat eases on Australia harvest and Black Sea exports


Updates with European trading, adds Paris to dateline

PARIS/BEIJING, Dec 15 (Reuters)U.S. and European wheat futures fell on Wednesday as a bumper Australian harvest and signs of continued competition from Black Sea supplies added to recent technical pressure, traders and analysts said.

Soybeans edged higher, with strength in soymeal again offsetting weakness in soyoil, while corn was little changed as the market assessed weather conditions for South American crops.

The most active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade Wv1 was down 1% at $7.79-1/2 a bushel by 1235 GMT.

In Europe, March wheat BL2H2 on Euronext was down 1.1% at 281.25 euros ($317.00) a tonne.

Wheat futures have retreated since multi-year highs last month as worries over the Omicron coronavirus variant and easing concerns about global wheat supply have encouraged selling.

“Wheat prices are losing ground mainly on technical considerations for the moment,” consultancy Agritel said in a note.

“We are entering a new period of high market volatility, accentuated by the end-of-year adjustments.”

Investors were awaiting further direction from a U.S. Federal Reserve policy meeting. MKTS/GLOB

Traders said that a drier spell in Australia has also created fundamental pressure for wheat by tempering fears over rain damage to what is forecast to be a record harvest.

A wheat tender on Tuesday by Algeria, in which the major importer is thought to have booked about 700,000 tonnes, also pressured Paris futures.

Traders said they expected French wheat to miss out for a second straight tender, while Argentine and Ukrainian supplies could claim some sales.

However, news that Russia might reduce a planned quota for wheat exports later this season, according to sources familiar with discussions, underlined uncertainty about supply.

CBOT corn Cv1 was up 0.2% at $5.91-1/2 a bushel, while soybeans Sv1 edged up by 0.4% to $12.64-1/2 a bushel.

Expectations of rising demand for soymeal have helped to underpin bean prices in the face of a slide in vegetable oil markets. POI/

The risk of persisting dry conditions in southern Brazil and Argentina in the coming weeks, despite rain relief in recent days, was also underpinning soy and corn markets, traders said.

Prices at 1235 GMT

Last

Change

Pct Move

End 2020

Ytd Pct Move

CBOT wheat Wv1

779.50

-7.50

-0.95

640.50

21.70

CBOT corn Cv1

591.50

1.25

0.21

484.00

22.21

CBOT soy Sv1

1264.50

5.00

0.40

1311.00

-3.55

Paris wheat BL2H2

281.25

-3.00

-1.06

195.50

43.86

Paris maize EMAc1

244.25

-0.25

-0.10

219.00

11.53

Paris rape COMc1

705.00

-4.25

-0.60

418.25

68.56

WTI crude oil CLc1

69.85

-0.88

-1.24

48.52

43.96

Euro/dlr EUR=

1.13

0.00

0.12

1.2100

-6.86

Most active contracts – Wheat, corn and soy US cents/bushel, Paris futures in euros per tonne

($1 = 0.8872 euros)

(Reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Emily Chow in Beijing Editing by Rashmi Aich and David Goodman )

(([email protected]; +33 1 49 49 52 18; Reuters Messaging: [email protected]))

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.



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