Chicago wheat futures rose on Friday, boosted by concerns of frost damage from low temperatures forecast for the U.S. Plains over the weekend, while corn and soybean prices also edged up.
The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Wv1 rose 0.9% to $/4 a bushel by 1110 GMT.
“The weather situation remains to be monitored in the U.S. with very low temperatures expected this weekend, raising fears of frost damage in the south of the country due to a lack of snow cover protection,” analyst Agritel said in a note.
The most-active CBOT soybean contract Sv1 added 0.3% to $/2 a bushel while corn Cv1 gained 0.5% at $/4 a bushel.
Dealers said the prospect of much needed rains in Argentina helped to limit gains in soybean prices.
Abundant rains will for the first time this cycle bring relief to Argentina’s parched farming heartland in the coming days, the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange said on Thursday, as a historic drought has prevented many farmers from planting.
The lack of rainfall in Argentina, the world’s largest exporter of soybean oil and soymeal and the third-largest exporter of corn, is slowing the planting of the current soybean crop and has slashed forecasts for the country’s wheat harvest.
China is expected to end the year with historically low soymeal carryover stocks, which should increase dependence on imported soybeans in 2023, Victor Martins, senior risk manager at HedgePoint Global Markets, said Thursday.
Brazilian soybeans, which are processed in China to make livestock feed, are currently more attractive than U.S. soybeans for February shipments, Martins said in an interview.
Corn and soybeans export sales dipped to the low end of trade estimates during the week ended Dec. 15.
U.S. exporters sold 876,000 tonnes of soybeans last week, compared to trade expectations of 800,000 tonnes to 1.4 million tonnes, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.
Corn export sales totalled 636,800 tonnes, near the low end of trade forecasts ranging from 625,000 to 950,000 tonnes.
Exporters sold 334,200 tonnes of wheat, in line with analysts’ forecasts of 200,000 to 550,000 tonnes.
