By P.J. Huffstutter
CHICAGO, Oct 25 (Reuters) – Chicago wheat futures surged to a two-month high on Monday, as heavy world demand and worries about the global availability of high-protein wheat extended market gains.
Soybeans were also firm, helped by renewed strength in the energy and vegetable oil markets. POI/
The most-active soft red winter wheat contract on the Chicago Board Of Trade (CBOT) Wv1 settled the day up 3-1/2 at $7.59-1/2 a bushel. It earlier reached $7.67, its highest since Aug. 16.
The wheat rally has been fueled by worries about global availability of high-protein wheat, pushing Kansas hard red winter wheat futures KWc1 to their highest level since 2014 and Minneapolis spring wheat futures MWEc1 to levels not seen since 2012. GRA/
Even December oats futures OZ1 hit a contract high, surging to their 25-cent daily limit.
Drought this year in major spring wheat production zones and brisk import demand have eroded stock levels, making the wheat market sensitive to potential supply setbacks.
Corn edged up to its highest in more than two weeks early in the session, with support from wheat futures and crude oil. But prices eased as the session continued, as well-timed rains gave corn plantings in South America a boost and U.S. weekly exports were lackluster, traders said.
On Monday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported export inspections of U.S. corn in the week ended Sept. 21 at 545,127 tonnes, down nearly 20% from the same period a year earlier and well below the range of trader expectations.
“Those corn inspections are less than half of what we need on a weekly average to hit USDA’s export forecasts,” said Karl Setzer, commodity risk analyst at Agrivisor. “We don’t have buyers really stepping up for our product right now.”
Traders waited for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to issue its weekly update on corn and soy harvest progress at 3 p.m. CDT (2000 GMT).
CBOT corn Cv1 settled the day unchanged at $5.38 a bushel, after earlier touching its highest level since Oct. 6 at $5.42. Soybeans Sv1 settled up 16-3/4 cents at $12.37-1/4 a bushel.
(Reporting by P.J. Huffstutter; Additional reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Naveen Thukral in Singapore; Editing by Kirsten Donovan, David Evans and Peter Cooney)
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