BLBG:Wheat Advances as 22% Slump From Last Year’s Peak Lures Buyers
Wheat advanced for a second day in Chicago on speculation that a 22 percent slump from a four-year high through yesterday will boost demand for U.S. supplies. Corn was poised to end the longest losing streak in 32 years.
Wheat for delivery in March gained as much as 0.5 percent to $7.3925 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade, and was at $7.37 at 2:41 p.m. in Singapore. Milling wheat for delivery in May settled at 236.75 euros ($318.41) a ton yesterday, making it $47.34 more expensive than a ton of Chicago wheat, compared with an average of $16.42 in the past decade.
“Chicago wheat is now the cheapest,” Michael Pitts, a commodity sales director at National Australia Bank Ltd., said from Sydney today. “That’s going to attract some demand. Demand has still been decent for global wheat generally.”
Wheat plunged from last year’s peak, while corn slumped 17 percent from its all-time closing high as global production prospects improved after the worst U.S. drought since the 1930s hurt crops.
Iraq is seeking to import 50,000 tons of wheat at a bidding that closes Feb. 17, the Trade Ministry said Jan. 31. Japan plans to buy feed-wheat on Feb. 20, while Bangladesh, the largest buyer in South Asia, is seeking to import 50,000 tons at a bidding that closes Feb. 28.
Corn for May delivery added 0.1 percent to $6.945 a bushel in Chicago, ending nine days of declines, the worst run since December 1980, that’s been driven by prospects for increased supplies from South America.
Soybeans for May delivery were unchanged at $14.135 a bushel in Chicago. That put the oilseed at 2.035 times the cost of corn, compared with an average of 2.4 in the past decade.
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
