June 18, 2010

CBOT wheat futures extend gains on Canada's wet weather

Chicago wheat futures rose for the six straight session on Thursday (Jun 17) as wet weather in Canadian Prairie continued to halt planting progress of wheat.

Corn gained on stronger than expected US weekly export sales. Soy retreated.

July soy dropped 5.75 cents or 0.6% to US$9.52 a bushel. July wheat was up 1.5 cents, or 0.3%, to US$4.6275 dollars per bushel. July corn rose 1.25 cents, or 0.4%, to US$3.575 dollars per bushel.

Dollar fell against euro again as Spanish government sold 3.5 billion euros of bond on Thursday, which eased investor's concern over the fiscal health and banking sector of Spain. The early weakness in dollar has lifted grain futures, but dollar gained some strength during midday trading, and dragged down corn and soy prices.

Farmers in Canada may plant 19.15 million acres of wheat, which is the lowest level in 39 years and 18% less than a year ago, Canadian Wheat Board said last week. The excessive rainfall which continued to slow planting and stressed crops in Canada has let strong support to wheat price on Thursday.

USDA said in a report that net export sale of corn last week reached 1.2269 million tonnes, which was much higher than economist's expectation. The net export sale of soy was 315, 800 tonnes, which was lower than analyst estimates, and dragged down soy prices. The net export sale of wheat reached 959,500 tonnes, which offered strong support to wheat market this morning.