BLBG: Wheat Declines, Erasing Advance, as Russia and Ukraine May Add to Supply
Wheat futures declined for the fifth straight day on speculation that higher shipments of the grain from Ukraine may boost global supply. Corn and soybeans also fell.
Ukraine has the potential to boost grain exports to 22 million or 23 million metric tons in the season starting July 1, from about 11 million tons this season, Serhiy Feofilov, the head of researcher UkrAgroConsult, said yesterday.
“There’s an expectation that a good Northern Hemisphere crop will weigh on prices,” Simon Clancy, manager for the export brokerage at FCStone Australia Pty., said by phone from Sydney. “We’re already seeing signs of that out of Russian and Ukrainian markets.”
Wheat for July delivery declined 6.5 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $7.6975 a bushel by 10:40 a.m. London time on the Chicago Board of Trade. It is set for a 7.5 percent loss this week. Milling wheat for May delivery on NYSE Liffe in Paris fell 2.255 euros, or 1 percent, to 235.50 euros ($340.56).
Grain harvests in Russia may range between 80 million tons and 88 million tons this year, the Institute for Agricultural Market Studies said yesterday. That compares with the institute’s estimate of 84 million tons in February.
Russia banned grain exports from Aug. 15 to at least July 1 as drought wiped out 37 percent of its crops. Russia was the world’s second-largest exporter of wheat in the 2009-2010 season, before grain crops in the country suffered from the worst drought in at least half a century.
Soybeans fell on speculation South American inventories will be larger than previously expected, increasing exportable supplies of the oilseed.
Brazilian Exports
South American soybean production will rise 1.3 percent to a record 141.4 million tons this year, researcher Oil World said in a report this week. Exports from Brazil, the world’s second- biggest shipper behind the U.S., will rise 13 percent to 33 million tons, Oil World said.
Soybeans for July delivery declined 7.25 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $13.355 a bushel in Chicago, set for a 4.9 percent loss this week. July-delivery corn lost 8.25 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $7.5275 a bushel in Chicago. The contract is set for a 2.7 percent loss this week, the first weekly decline in five.
To contact the reporter on this story: Luzi Ann Javier in Singapore at ljavier@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Poole at jpoole4@bloomberg.net
