Wheat eases after rally, Black Sea supply concerns limit decline

Chicago wheat slid on Wednesday after climbing to a more than two-week high in the previous session, although losses were curbed by renewed concerns over Black Sea supplies following Ukraine’s attack on a large Russian naval ship.

Soybeans and corn edged lower.

The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Wv1 fell 0.3% to $6.34-1/2 a bushel, as of 0420 GMT, after climbing to its highest since Dec. 8 on Tuesday.

Soybeans Sv1 fell 0.1% to $13.17-1/2 a bushel and corn Cv1 gave up 0.2% to $4.79-1/2 a bushel.

Wheat prices got some support from tensions in the Black Sea region. Ukraine struck a large Russian landing warship in Crimea with cruise missiles in an attack in the Black Sea, a key global shipping route for grains.

Torrential rain is expected to cut wheat planting in France, Germany and Britain in an early setback for next year’s European harvest, though conditions are more promising in other countries.

In the soybean market, farmers in Brazil’s main agricultural state began harvesting their crop from the 2023/24 cycle, the earliest known start of the bean harvest in Mato Grosso as dry weather sped up crop cycles. Brazil is the world’s top soybean exporter.

A decision to boost the blend of biodiesel into diesel from March 2024 will create additional internal demand for an estimated 5 million metric tons of soybeans and potentially cut Brazilian soybean and soyoil exports, according to analysts.

China’s animal feed production rose in the first 11 months of 2023, but the use of soymeal as feedstock dropped 11% year-on-year, its agriculture ministry said on Monday, amid a push to cut the country’s heavy reliance on soybean imports.

Large speculators increased their net short position in CBOT corn futures in the week to Dec. 19, regulatory data released on Friday showed.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s weekly commitments of traders report also showed that noncommercial traders, a category that includes hedge funds, trimmed their net short position in CBOT wheat and switched to a net short position in soybeans.

High food prices in recent years have prompted farmers worldwide to plant more cereals and oilseeds, but consumers are set to face tighter supplies well into 2024, amid adverse El Nino weather, export restrictions and higher biofuel mandates.

Global wheat, corn and soybean prices – after several years of strong gains – are headed for losses in 2023 on easing Black Sea bottlenecks and fears of a global recession, although markets remain vulnerable to supply shocks and food inflation in the New Year, analysts and traders said.

Tags: soybeans, wheat, futures, corn, prices