Investing.com – Wheat futures edged higher on Thursday, as hot and dry weather conditions in key U.S. wheat-growing regions threatened crop production, but concerns over declining demand for U.S. supplies limited gains.
On the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, wheat futures for December delivery traded at USD7.5412 a bushel during European morning trade, gaining 0.45%.
It earlier fell as much as 0.65% to trade at a daily low of USD7.5488 a bushel.
Industry weather group Telvent DTN said in a report on Wednesday that wheat-growing regions across the U.S. Midwest will be most dry and cool, while warmer-than-normal temperatures were expected to remain in Oklahoma and Texas through mid-September, the firm’s six-to-ten-day forecast showed.
The adverse weather forecast was likely to weigh further on U.S. spring-wheat crop yields. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said that nearly 68% of the U.S. spring-wheat crop was harvested as of September 6, compared to 74% harvested in the same week a year earlier and significantly below the five-year average of 81% for this time of year.
In North Dakota, the second largest wheat-growing state in the U.S., approximately 65% of the spring-wheat crop was harvested as of last week, compared to the five-year average of 79% for this time of year.
The U.S. is the world’s third largest wheat producer and the biggest exporter of the grain.
Wheat prices came under pressure after Egypt’s General Authority for Supply Commodities, the state’s main wheat buyer, bought 300,000 metric tons of the grain from Russia and Kazakhstan at a tender on Wednesday.
Russia and Kazakhstan are major wheat exporters and compete with the U.S. for business on the global market.
Elsewhere on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, corn for December delivery shed 0.13% to trade at USD7.4738 a bushel, while soybeans for November delivery added 0.22% to trade at USD14.2188 a bushel.
Corn is the biggest U.S. crop, valued at USD66.7 billion in 2010, followed by soybeans at USD38.9 billion, government figures show. Wheat was fourth at USD13 billion, behind hay.
On the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, wheat futures for December delivery traded at USD7.5412 a bushel during European morning trade, gaining 0.45%.
It earlier fell as much as 0.65% to trade at a daily low of USD7.5488 a bushel.
Industry weather group Telvent DTN said in a report on Wednesday that wheat-growing regions across the U.S. Midwest will be most dry and cool, while warmer-than-normal temperatures were expected to remain in Oklahoma and Texas through mid-September, the firm’s six-to-ten-day forecast showed.
The adverse weather forecast was likely to weigh further on U.S. spring-wheat crop yields. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said that nearly 68% of the U.S. spring-wheat crop was harvested as of September 6, compared to 74% harvested in the same week a year earlier and significantly below the five-year average of 81% for this time of year.
In North Dakota, the second largest wheat-growing state in the U.S., approximately 65% of the spring-wheat crop was harvested as of last week, compared to the five-year average of 79% for this time of year.
The U.S. is the world’s third largest wheat producer and the biggest exporter of the grain.
Wheat prices came under pressure after Egypt’s General Authority for Supply Commodities, the state’s main wheat buyer, bought 300,000 metric tons of the grain from Russia and Kazakhstan at a tender on Wednesday.
Russia and Kazakhstan are major wheat exporters and compete with the U.S. for business on the global market.
Elsewhere on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, corn for December delivery shed 0.13% to trade at USD7.4738 a bushel, while soybeans for November delivery added 0.22% to trade at USD14.2188 a bushel.
Corn is the biggest U.S. crop, valued at USD66.7 billion in 2010, followed by soybeans at USD38.9 billion, government figures show. Wheat was fourth at USD13 billion, behind hay.