Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures continued their steady climb on Wednesday, as dry weather raised concerns in key growing regions and Russian attacks in the Black Sea area threatened to disrupt supply chains.
As the last full of week of April is set to wind down, two factors will determine the course of United States soybean, corn and wheat futures. Those are the rain forecast for the weekend of Apr. 27 and 28, and last day for May futures on Apr. 26, according to hedging strategist Scott Capinegro of AgMarket.net.
Chicago wheat surged to a two-month high on Tuesday as a decline in U.S. winter wheat conditions focused attention on weather risks to northern hemisphere crops.
U.S. wheat futures rallied to their highest point in more than two months before the session closed on Monday as crop weather concerns in the Northern Hemisphere supported prices and triggered technical buying and short covering, which accelerated the climb, analysts said.
The net managed money short position in canola grew for the first time in seven weeks as fund traders put on fresh bearish bets in mid-April, according to the latest Commitments of Traders report from the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
U.S. corn and soybean prices rose on Friday as heightened geopolitical tensions spurred a round of bargain buying after the benchmark contracts in both markets fell to their lowest levels in more than six weeks, traders said.
There were small to modest gains in wheat prices on the Canadian Prairies for the week ended Apr. 18. Canadian Western Red Spring Wheat, Canada Prairie Red Spring Wheat, and Canadian Western Amber Durum made advances despite losses in the United States wheat complex.
U.S. soybean and corn futures closed lower on Thursday after touching six-week lows, with both markets facing pressure from hefty South American supplies, traders said.
U.S. soybean futures rose on Wednesday, bouncing on a round of bargain buying after the most-active July contract SN24 hit a six-week low, buoyed in part by firming Brazilian soy markets, analysts said.