Chicago | Reuters—Chicago wheat fell on Tuesday from peaks not seen since December, while corn eased from four-month highs as investors gauged the impact of harsh weather in some major production zones.
Nearby soybean contracts also ended lower in a profit-taking retreat from recent highs, while new-crop contracts held on to early gains.
Wheat led the pullback after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released improved U.S. winter crop ratings and as forecasts suggested better chances of rain in parched southern Russia in the week ahead.
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U.S. wheat futures closed higher on Thursday on concerns over the limited availability of supplies for export in Russia, analysts said.
Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) July wheat WN24 settled down 6 cents at $6.42-3/4 a bushel. July soybeans SN24 were down 2-1/4 cents at $12.46-1/2 a bushel while July corn CN24 fell 2 cents to $4.67 a bushel.
Wheat traders remained unsettled by weather conditions in top exporter Russia, including dryness in the south of the country and late frosts in some areas.
But crop data released by the USDA on Monday raised winter wheat condition ratings to the highest for early May since 2020, easing concerns about drought in the U.S. Plains wheat belt.
Seeing healthy new crop projections caused prices to stall after a period of aggressive speculative buying, said Mark Soderberg, senior agricultural market analyst at ADM Investor Services.
Soybeans and corn have risen over the past week as floods threatened some unharvested crops in Brazil and wet weather slowed U.S. spring planting. Downgrades to Argentina’s harvest outlook was also supportive.
But, said Jim McCormick, cofounder of AgMarket.net, those highs inspired increased selling by farmers.
“We have a lot of producers that have used this rally as an opportunity to move old crop grain, as well as new crop, so I think you’re seeing a little bit of hedge pressure,” McCormick said.
The market will turn its attention to the USDA’s world supply and demand forecasts on Friday.
—Additional reporting for Reuters by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Bernadette Christina in Jakarta
