CBOT wheat futures rise due to lower forecast of corn supply

Wheat futures rose for the first time in two weeks after a government report showed stockpiles of corn, which competes as a feed grain for livestock, would decline more than analysts expected.

 

Corn inventories are expected to total 1.603 billion bushels at the end of the marketing year on August 31, the USDA said. The average estimate in a Bloomberg news survey of analysts was 1.726 billion bushels.

 

"Anytime you're talking about grain, most of the time if wheat has strength, that's going to correlate to corn prices and vice versa," said Jason Britt, the president of Central States Commodities Inc. in Kansas City, Missouri.

 

Wheat futures for July delivery rose 6.5 cents, or 1.5%, to US$4.345 a bushel at 10:09 a.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade. Before today (June 11), the most-active contract was down 8.5% since May 27, the eve of its losing streak, because of reduced demand for US grain and swelling global stockpiles.

 

Corn futures for July delivery rose 6 cents, or 1.8%, to US$3.4425 a bushel on the CBOT. A close at that price would be the biggest jump since May 26.

 

Wheat is the fourth-biggest US crop, valued at US$10.6 billion in 2009, behind corn, soy and hay, government data show.