Chicago wheat futures fell on Thursday as traders squared positions ahead of a widely watched U.S. agricultural report expected to show a tightening in world supplies.
“U.S. supply/demand report is key for price direction and we are expecting a revision in production outlook,” a Singapore-based trader at an international trading company said.
The most active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade fell 0.4% to $7.24 a bushel by 0322 GMT, after closing little changed in the previous session.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is set to issue an update on global grain supplies and demand in a monthly report later on Thursday.
Soybeans were down 0.7% at $13.30-3/4 a bushel and corn lost 0.5% to $5.56-1/2 a bushel.
Two leading agriculture consultancies in Russia, the world’s largest wheat exporter, cut their estimates for the country’s 2021 wheat crop due to dry, hot weather.
The USDA, in a daily reporting system, said exporters sold 132,000 tonnes of U.S. soybeans for delivery to China during the 2021/2022 marketing year. It was the second consecutive day the agency confirmed U.S. soy sales to China, the world’s biggest importer of the oilseed.
Commodity funds were net buyers of CBOT corn, soyoil and soybean futures contracts on Wednesday and net sellers of wheat and soymeal futures, traders said.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Naveen Thukral; Editing by Ramakrishnan M.)