By Julie Ingwersen
CHICAGO, Oct 1 (Reuters) – U.S. wheat futures hit a six-week high on Friday, rallying for a second day in a row on smaller-than-expected stocks and production figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Corn futures followed wheat higher while soybeans fell to multi-month lows after the USDA on Thursday reported larger-than-expected U.S. soy inventories.
Chicago Board of Trade December wheat WZ1 settled up 29-3/4 cents at $7.55-1/4 per bushel after reaching $7.58-1/2, its highest since Aug. 17.
CBOT December corn ended up 4-3/4 cents at $5.41-1/2 a bushel while November soybeans SX1 fell 9-1/2 cents to finish at $12.46-1/2 a bushel after dipping to $12.42, the lowest in a continuous chart of the most-active soy contract Sv1 since Dec. 22.
CBOT December oats OZ1 ended up 8-3/4 cents at $5.91 a bushel after touching $5.95, the highest spot price Oc1 since 2014, on tight supplies due to drought in top exporter Canada.
Wheat was the day’s biggest mover, with December futures up about 4% after the USDA on Thursday reported U.S. Sept. 1 wheat stocks at a 14-year low and also cut its estimate of the 2021 U.S. wheat harvest more than most analysts had expected.
“Wheat is going to be in very tight supply and could be the (futures market) leader in the winter and spring, until we get a new cycle of crops that could be available for export,” said Craig Turner, senior ag broker at Daniels Trading.
In Europe, benchmark December wheat BL2Z1 on Euronext rose as much as 2.5% to a contract high of 264.50 euros ($306.40) a tonne, as the U.S. supply data added to support from a weaker euro and brisk export demand for European wheat, traders said. GRA/EUGRA/TEND
Soybean futures fell on a larger-than-expected soy stocks figure from Thursday’s reports, along with pressure from the ongoing U.S. harvest.
The USDA reported Sept. 1 soybean stocks at 256 million bushels, above the entire range of trade estimates in the Reuters pre-report poll.
“Soybeans are not nearly as tight as we thought,” Turner said.
After Friday’s CBOT close, the USDA said U.S. processors crushed 168.2 million bushels of soybeans in August, below an average of trade estimates for 169.0 million.
Meanwhile, commodity brokerage StoneX raised its forecast of Brazil’s 2021/22 soybean crop to 144.26 million tonnes, from 143.33 million previously.
(Additional reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Colin Packham in Canberra; Editing by Ramakrishnan M., Kirsten Donovan, Richard Chang and Sonya Hepinstall)
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