Chicago | Reuters — U.S. wheat futures rose on Thursday, bouncing back from a sharp sell-off a day earlier on support from technical buying and concerns about supply disruptions stemming from the Russia-Ukraine war, traders said.
Corn and soybeans also closed in positive territory, with old-crop contracts supported by expectations that supplies will remain tight despite waning export demand for U.S. supplies. A drier forecast for the U.S. Midwest pulled new-crop contracts higher after they had traded in negative territory for much of the session.
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Traders were adjusting positions ahead of the U.S. Agriculture Department’s closely watched world agricultural supply and demand estimates (WASDE) report on Friday.
Chicago Board of Trade July soft red winter wheat futures settled up 9-1/2 cents at $6.26-1/4 a bushel (all figures US$).
“I think it is just kind of a technical recovery after it has been beat up so much,” said Chuck Shelby, president of Risk Management Commodities.
The Kremlin said on Thursday a blast that damaged a pipeline used to transport ammonia fertiliser from Russia via Ukraine — which Moscow wants restarted — would have a negative impact on the Black Sea grain deal.
Ukraine could lose several million tonnes of crops because of flooding caused by the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in the south of the country, the Ukrainian agriculture ministry said on Thursday.
CBOT July soybean futures were up 2-1/2 cents at $13.63-1/4 a bushel, while CBOT July corn futures were six cents higher at $6.10-1/4 a bushel.
Export sales of corn totaled 65,900 tonnes in the week ended June 1, the U.S. Agriculture Department said on Thursday morning. That was down from 499,343 tonnes a week ago.
Weekly soybean export sales fell to 471,900 tonnes from 424,396.
— Reporting for Reuters by Mark Weinraub in Chicago; additional reporting by Naveen Thukral in Singapore and Sybille de La Hamaide in Chicago.
