Wheat futures skid to 11-week low on harvest pressure

On Tuesday, prices of Chicago wheat edged lower to an eleven-week low as harvest pressure in Europe and North America weighed on the market.

The most active contract tied to the grain declined 1.62% or 16.70 points to $1,016.30 per metric ton. Accordingly, the drop trailed the 4.08% plunge last Friday.

Wheat harvesting in Europe and North America capped off some supply concerns. Initially, the lack of Black Sea shipments due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine triggered the market jitters.

Presently, negotiations to Ukrainian export grain through the Black Sea have made little progress. This move has provided a floor under wheat and corn markets.

On Monday, the European Union’s foreign policy chief stated that Moscow committed a war crime after blocking exports from Kyiv. Correspondingly, the EU foreign ministers will discuss ways to free up the crop to relieve the global food crisis.

Meanwhile, on Monday, the bloc’s monitoring service MARS lowered its 2022 wheat yield forecasts for most cereal and oilseed grains. The dampened projection came as dry conditions persisted in the region, limiting the downsides for the EU’s main cereal crop,

Experts anticipated this year’s output to be 5.76 tonnes per hectare from the 5.89 t/ha estimate last month.

Wheat, corn, and soybeans tick lower on Tuesday

Like wheat, corn contracts skidded 1.39% or 10.90 points to $772.10 per metric ton. The fall came after China’s maize imports from Ukraine in May plunged compared with a year ago.

Beijing remains the world’s top buyer of corn, bringing in 126,727 tonnes of yellow grain from Kyiv. However, the figure decreased sharply from 1.26 million tonnes a year ago.

For US corn and soybeans, market participants closely watch the weather conditions. Experts forecasted hotter-than-normal temperatures for the rest of the month, raising concerns about key growth stages.

Accordingly, soybean futures followed wheat’s movement. It shed 0.63% or 10.88 points to $1,690.00 per metric ton.