Chicago | Reuters — U.S. wheat futures fell on Friday, surrendering all the prior session’s gains on a stronger dollar and hopes of progress in negotiations to maintain a Ukrainian Black Sea grain export corridor.
Corn and soybeans followed wheat lower, weighed down by lacklustre demand and pressured by lower energy and equities markets.
On Thursday, wheat surged after Russia’s Geneva U.N. ambassador told Reuters Moscow could reject a renewal of the corridor deal that has allowed wartime exports from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.
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However, there were hopes of progress in negotiations after a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan.
“All the reasons that wheat rallied yesterday were taken away today,” said Ted Seifried, chief agriculture strategist for the Zaner Group.
“Putin said he’s not happy with the deal and he may end it. Well, he hasn’t, so maybe it’s just talk… Then you have the dollar turning around, taking back the majority of yesterday’s weakness,” he said.
Chicago Board of Trade December wheat dropped 32-1/2 cents, to $8.59-3/4 a bushel, ending the week down 2.3 per cent in a second straight weekly decline (all figures US$).
CBOT December corn fell eight cents, to $6.89-3/4 a bushel while November soybeans shed 12 cents to $13.83-3/4 a bushel. But both benchmark contracts finished higher on the week, with corn up one per cent and soy 1.2 per cent higher.
Poor export demand pressured corn as the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Friday reported net sales last week of just 260,700 tonnes, below trade expectations.
Tepid sales also weighed on soybeans, although weekly sales of 724,400 tonnes were in line with estimates.
Several large daily soybean export sales announcements by USDA this week totalling 1.622 million tonnes — mostly to top importer China — offered little support to futures as the deals are considered routine sales, traders said.
— Reporting for Reuters by Karl Plume in Chicago; additional reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Naveen Thukral in Singapore.
