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Grain futures - weekly outlook: December 9 - 13

Published 12/08/2013, 10:16 AM
Investing.com - U.S. grain futures ended Friday’s session mixed, with wheat prices dropping to a two-week low as a combination of easing concerns over global crop conditions and worries over reduced demand for U.S. supplies weighed.

On the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, wheat for March delivery shed 0.15% on Friday to settle the week at USD6.5100 a bushel. Earlier in the day, wheat prices fell to a session low of USD6.4920 a bushel, the weakest level since November 22.

CBOT March wheat prices tumbled 1.47% on Thursday to settle at USD6.5200 a bushel.

The March wheat contract ended the week with a loss of 2.63%, the first weekly loss in three weeks.

Wheat was pressured after Canada’s government said domestic wheat output rose 38% from a year earlier to a record-high 37.5 million metric tons in 2013.

Australia also raised its forecast for wheat production during the 2013-14 marketing year by 7% to 26.2 million tons, the third-highest on record.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Thursday that U.S. farmers sold 229,200 metric tons of wheat in the week that ended on November 28, the lowest amount since the start of the marketing year on June 1.

Elsewhere on the Chicago Board of Trade, soybeans for January delivery inched down 0.19% on Friday to settle the week at USD13.2540 a bushel by close of trade.

Prices of the oilseed dipped 0.11% on Thursday to settle at USD13.2800 a bushel.

On the week, the January soybean contract shed 0.82%.

Soybean prices eased after agricultural meteorologists predicted mostly favorable weather across key soy-growing regions in Brazil.

Production in Brazil is set to reach a record 88 million tons in the 2013-14 marketing year.

Meanwhile, corn futures for March delivery inched up 0.17% on Friday to settle the week at USD4.3420 a bushel. The March contract settled down 0.69% on Thursday to end at USD4.3340 a bushel.

On the week, the March corn contract jumped 2.25%.

Corn traders shrugged off news that China rejected 120,000 tons of U.S. supplies earlier in the week after detecting an unapproved genetically-modified strain.

Corn prices have been on a downward trend in recent months amid expectations this year’s corn harvest in the U.S. will be the largest on record. Prices of the grain slumped to a four-year low of USD4.1540 a bushel on November 8.

In the week ahead, market players will focus on the release of key weekly USDA data, including crop progress numbers on Monday and export sales figures on Thursday.

Grain traders are also awaiting the USDA’s highly-anticipated supply and demand report for December due on Tuesday.

Corn is the biggest U.S. crop, followed by soybeans, government figures show. Wheat was fourth, behind hay.

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