BLBG:Wheat Set for Biggest Weekly Gain in Two Months as Export Demand Increases
Wheat advanced, set for the biggest weekly gain in almost two months, on signs of increasing demand for milling-grade grain. Soybeans were little changed.
September-delivery wheat gained as much as 1.3 percent to $7.16 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade. It traded at $7.0975 a bushel at 11:02 a.m. in Singapore, set for a 9 percent increase this week, the biggest for a most-active contract since the week ended May 20.
As of July 7, the U.S., the largest wheat exporter, had agreed to sell 9.24 million metric tons since the start of the marketing year on June 1, from 8.72 million tons a week earlier, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said yesterday. That includes the 3.24 million tons already shipped and 6 million tons in outstanding sales, it said. The U.S. is forecast to ship 31.5 million tons by the USDA.
“It’s both the export pace, as well as the export outlook” that’s helped to drive prices higher, Michael Pitts, a commodity sales director at National Australia Bank, said by phone from Sydney. The grain’s recent slump “has also made U.S. wheat relatively competitive globally.”
Futures have declined 23 percent from a 30-month high of $9.1675 a bushel on Feb. 14, as farmers around the world expanded planting, and Russia, once the world’s second-largest shipper, ended an export ban imposed in August 2010.
Import Demand
Egypt, the world’s biggest wheat importer, is seeking to buy at least 55,000 tons of soft wheat from the U.S., France, Germany, Argentina, Australia, the U.K., Canada, Russia or Ukraine at a tender today, Nomani Nomani, the vice chairman of the General Authority for Supply Commodities, said yesterday. The grain is for arrival Aug. 11 to Aug. 20.
Japan bought 139,411 tons of milling wheat from the U.S., Canada and Australia in a regular tender yesterday, the largest volume in four weeks, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
Corn for December delivery declined 0.2 percent to $6.77 a bushel in Chicago, paring the weekly advance to 6.3 percent.
November-delivery soybeans were little changed at $13.8375 a bushel, trimming the weekly gain to 2.8 percent.
Temperatures may near 100 degrees Fahrenheit as far north as Minnesota as a heat wave builds in the central U.S. this weekend before spreading to the East Coast, forecasters said.
An excessive heat watch, meaning temperatures will feel hotter than 105 Fahrenheit (41 Celsius), was issued by the National Weather Service for eastern Kansas and Nebraska.
By early next week, higher-than-normal temperatures may stretch from Salt Lake City to New York, said Mike Pigott, a meteorologist at AccuWeather Inc. in State College, Pennsylvania.
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 in Singapore at jpoole4@bloomberg.net
