Chicago | Reuters—Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures Wv1 soared on Friday to their highest price since October, and analysts said support from blistering cold weather in the Black Sea and U.S. Plains regions prompted short covering.
Corn and soy futures also ticked up as traders monitored parched weather in Argentina, a major producer of both crops.
Grain and soy futures were broadly supported by an easing dollar and investor relief that U.S. President Donald Trump did not immediately impose reciprocal tariffs globally, analysts said.
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U.S. corn futures extended gains into a fourth session on Friday and posted the first weekly rise in a month as slow farmer sales of newly harvested grain and reports of lower-than-expected harvest yields supported the market.
Trump’s decision to order his economics team to prepare plans for reciprocal tariffs was seen as leaving scope for negotiations, though traders remained wary of a possible trade war and retaliation against U.S. agricultural exports.
“The fact that he’s giving plenty of negotiating time is friendly for markets,” said Randy Place, analyst at Hightower Report.
Most-active CBOT wheat Wv1settled up 22-1/4 cents at $6 per bushel, reaching a high of $6.02-3/4 per bushel.
The most-active corn contract Cv1settled up 2-3/4 cents at $4.96-1/4 per bushel, and CBOT soybeans Sv1settled up 6 cents at $10.36 per bushel.
Cold temperatures in Russian and U.S. hard red winter wheat areas could cause freeze damage to dormant crops that will miss out on a layer of insulating snow cover, traders said. Russia is the world’s biggest wheat exporter.
In France, the soft wheat crop has already worsened sharply since December, data from farm office FranceAgriMer showed.
Supply concerns have prompted commodity funds, which hold a large net short position in wheat, to cover their short positions, traders said.
Corn and wheat markets were also buoyed by brisk weekly U.S. exports, though wheat import tenders this week from Algeria and Saudi Arabia were expected to show continued competition for business from the Black Sea region.
—Additional reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris, Ella Cao and Mei Mei Chu in Beijing
