BLBG:Wheat Climbs Second Day as Egypt’s Tender Signals Import Demand
Wheat gained for a second day after Egypt, the world’s biggest buyer of the grain, announced its first tender in more than two weeks, signaling sustained demand amid deteriorating supply prospects in Argentina.
Egypt is seeking to buy at least 60,000 metric tons in a tender today, Nomani Nomani, vice chairman of the state grain buyer, said yesterday. Japan, Asia’s largest importer after Indonesia, plans to buy 121,026 tons from the U.S. and Canada tomorrow, its government said yesterday.
“Probably the Egyptian tender” is helping push prices higher, Paul Deane, an agricultural economist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ), said by phone from Melbourne today. “You’ve got those concerns about Argentina’s export availability as well. The funds have generally been on a liquidation phase, and that’s probably coming to an end.”
Wheat for delivery in March climbed as much as 0.8 percent to $8.18 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade, and was at $8.1725 at 12:24 p.m. Paris time. The grain has climbed 25 percent this year, the best performer on the Standard & Poor’s GSCI Commodity Index of 24 raw materials.
Milling wheat for March delivery rose 0.4 percent to 255.25 euros ($338.90) a ton on NYSE Liffe in the French capital.
Egypt last bought wheat on Dec. 1, purchasing 400,000 tons of the grain from the U.S., Romania and France for delivery in January and February.
CFTC Data
Speculators and money managers reduced their net-long positions in wheat futures and options in Chicago by 67 percent to 11,219 contracts as of Dec. 11, from a week earlier, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show.
Wheat production in Argentina, South America’s largest exporter, may fall to 9.4 million tons, 7 percent less than earlier forecast, the Rosario Cereals Exchange said Dec. 14. That’s below the 11.5 million tons predicted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Dec. 11.
“In terms of weather, the situation remains very unfavorable for planting in Argentina due to excessive rain,” Paris-based farm adviser Agritel wrote on its website. “Regarding the wheat exports, those could well be suspended.”
Soybeans for delivery in March lost 0.3 percent to $14.5675 a bushel after dropping 1.9 percent yesterday on the cancellation of 420,000 tons of U.S. exports registered for delivery before Sept. 1, including 300,000 tons bound for China. The oilseed has risen 21 percent this year.
Corn for March delivery slipped 0.2 percent to $7.1825 a bushel. Most-active prices have risen 11 percent this year.
To contact the reporters on this story: Luzi Ann Javier in Singapore at ljavier@bloomberg.net; Rudy Ruitenberg in Paris at rruitenberg@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Poole at jpoole4@bloomberg.net
