Chicago wheat futures fell to a 10-week low on Wednesday after the U.S. dollar surged to its strongest level since May and rain in U.S. cropping areas improved the supply outlook.
Soybean futures also slipped, havingplunged on Tuesday when President-elect Donald Trump chose former Congressman Lee Zeldin, seen as a sceptic of the biofuel industry, to headthe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Corn edged lower.
The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade Wv1 was down 1% at $5.46-3/4 a bushel at 0541 GMT after falling to $5.45-1/2, lowest since Sept. 3.
The dollar .DXY held near its six-month high against a basket of currencies, making greenback-priced U.S. crops less attractive to overseas buyers holding other currencies. USD/
Wheat has trended lower in the recent weeks as rain eased dry conditions in the U.S., the Black Sea and Argentina, where harvest is getting underway. Meanwhile, dry weather improved the sowing conditions in waterlogged Western Europe.
Prices are nearing July’s four-year low of $5.14-1/2.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Tuesday rated 44% of the U.S. winter wheat crop in good-to-excellent condition, up three percentage points from last week following a much-needed rainfall in the Plains.
France’s farm ministry alsoslightly raised its estimate of the country’s 2024 soft wheat and corn output.
Wheat prices should be rising because of a recent rise in corn prices and low global wheat inventories, said Vitor Pistoia, an analyst at Rabobank in Sydney.
“I would expect prices to be close to $6, not somewhere close to $5.”
In other crops, CBOT soybeans Sv1 were 0.3% lower at$10.07-1/2 a bushel and corn Cv1 slipped 0.1% to $4.28-1/4 a bushel.
Soybean futures were pressured by falling CBOT soyoil futures BOZ24 after Zeldin was nominated as the EPA chief. CBOT soyoil fell 4% on Tuesday and was down a further 1.4% on Wednesday.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Peter Hobson; Editing by Sumana Nandy)