Wheat rebounds but faces biggest weekly loss in a month on Ukrainian supplies

SINGAPORE — Chicago wheat rose more than 1% on Friday after a sharp drop in the previous session, but the market was poised for its biggest weekly fall in a month on Ukrainian supplies and slowing demand for U.S. cargoes.

Corn ticked higher while soybeans lost more ground.

“Ukrainian grain flows have picked up steam, and this is helping to push down global wheat prices,” according to a Hightower report. “Ukraine’s grain exports in 2022/23 season are now seen at 30.4 million tonnes, compared with a July outlook for 22.6 million tonnes.”

The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) rose 1.4% to $7.59-3/4 a bushel, as of 0239 GMT. For the week, the market is down 5.7%, the biggest loss since mid-July.

Corn has given up almost 4% this week, while soybeans have lost 3.4%.

Shipments of Ukrainian wheat continue to leave Black Sea ports, easing global demand. Twenty-five vessels have left under a U.N.-brokered grain export deal.

Slowing demand for U.S. wheat weighed on the market. Export sales of U.S. wheat during the week ended Aug. 11 were just 207,200 tonnes, a marketing year low and down 46% from the prior 4-week average.

Expectations of rain and cooler temperatures in the coming week across parts of the U.S. Midwest weighed on soybean and corn prices.

However, strong U.S. soybean exports lent some support. U.S. exporters sold nearly 1.4 million tonnes of soybeans last week, beating analyst expectations.

U.S. corn exports reached 849,300 tonnes last week, in line with analyst expectations.

Argentina’s corn harvest for the current 2021/2022 season is estimated to reach 52 million tonnes, according to data released by the Buenos Aires Grains Exchange on Thursday, up about 6% from last week’s 49 million tonne forecast.

Dry weather last week favored the corn crop, the exchange said, while it also raised its calculation of the corn-planted area for the 2021/2022 season to 7.7 million hectares, from 7.3 million previously.

The International Grains Council on Thursday cut its forecast for 2022/23 global corn output, largely driven by diminished prospects for crops in the European Union and the United States.

In its monthly update, the inter-governmental body revised its 2022/23 world corn crop outlook downward by 10 million tonnes to 1.179 billion tonnes.

It raised its forecast for wheat production in the 2022/23 season by 8 million tonnes to 778 million tonnes.

Commodity funds were net sellers of CBOT wheat and soyoil futures contracts on Thursday and net buyers of CBOT soybeans, soymeal and corn, traders said. (Reporting by Naveen Thukral; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)