Friday, 13 November 2015 18:54
SYDNEY/PARIS: US wheat dipped on Friday, putting the grain on track for its biggest weekly loss in 2-1/2 months as weak demand for US supplies and ample global stocks dragged on prices.
Corn also fell and was poised for its biggest weekly loss in 14 weeks, while soybeans were set to record a fourth straight weekly loss.
Chicago Board Of Trade December wheat was 0.20 higher at $ 4.99 but still 4.6 percent lower for the week, the biggest weekly loss since the last week of August.
“It is clear that global supply is strong and that means lower prices and our forecasts don’t have much of an upside in terms of price,” said Phin Ziebell, agribusiness economist, National Australia Bank.
Market sentiment was likely to be driven by weekly export figures, analysts said, with investors looking for signs of continued weak demand for US supplies.
“Today, traders will be looking carefully the US weekly export sales as the previous report said the net wheat sales were 84,600 tonnes, down 85 percent from the week before, and as strong dollar is affecting exports,” Arnaud Saulais of Starsupply Commodity Brokers.
Analysts expect wheat sales to range between 150,000 and 350,000 tonnes for the 2015/16 marketing year.
But US wheat remains relatively expensive on the world market, with US wheat not offered in two tenders held this week by Egypt.
The US Department of Agriculture this week projected that US wheat exports for the 2015/16 marketing year would fall to the lowest level since 1971/72.
December corn fell 0.3 percent to $ 3.61 a bushel after closing little changed on Thursday.
Corn is down more than 3 percent for the week, the biggest weekly loss since July 31.
January soybeans were unchanged at $ 8.69-1/4 a bushel, having closed up 0.3 percent in the previous session.
The market is monitoring dry conditions in parts of Brazil, where farmers are planting what is forecast to be a record-large soybean crop. But beneficial rains are expected in Brazil’s main soy-growing areas next week.
