Wheat drops to 3-month low as US crop prospects improve

FE Team | Published: June 03, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

KUALA LUMPUR, June 2 (Bloomberg): Wheat fell for a ninth session, the longest slide since 1998, amid improving weather for U.S. crops as well as planting progress in the U.S. and Canada.
Rain is forecast to aid winter wheat in the Central Plains this week, while a break in rains farther north will allow for spring-wheat planting in the Dakotas as well as the Canadian prairies, Commodity Weather Group wrote in a May 30 report.
Wheat for July delivery fell 1 per cent to $6.21 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade by 5:51 a.m. local time. It reached $6.1625, the lowest since March 3. The contract dropped in 17 of the past 18 trading sessions. Milling wheat for November delivery traded on Euronext in Paris dropped 0.8 per cent to 190 euros ($258.57) a metric ton.
"Improving weather conditions across the States have continued to weigh on prices," U.K. grain trader Gleadell Agriculture Ltd. wrote. "The recent improvement now looks set to aid crop development."
Spring-wheat planting was 74 per cent complete as of May 25, up from 49 per cent a week earlier, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. About 30 per cent of the winter crop was in good or excellent condition, up from 29 per cent a week earlier, the USDA said on May 27.
Wheat fell 13 per cent in Chicago in May, the biggest monthly drop since September 2011.
"Market concerns continued to fade around the timeliness of planting of spring wheat crops in the U.S. and Canada," Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. analysts, including Paul Deane, wrote in a report today.
Ukraine Agriculture Minister Ihor Shvayka said today that the country's grain exports mostly have been unaffected by Russia's annexation of Crimea.
Soybeans Slip
Corn for July delivery declined 0.5 per cent to $4.6325 a bushel after touching $4.6125, the lowest since Feb. 28. In May, the grain dropped 10 per cent, the most in a year.
Soybeans for July delivery fell 0.4 per cent to $14.88 a bushel. Last month, the oilseed dropped 1.3 per cent, ending a three-month rally, the longest since August 2012.
U.S. farmers planted 88 per cent of the corn crop as of May 25, matching the five-year average pace, and soybean seeding was 59 per cent finished, up from 33 per cent a week earlier, the USDA said on May 27.
The U.S. is the biggest corn and soybean producer, and domestic output of both crops is set to climb to records, the USDA said May 9.