June 13, 2011
CBOT wheat rises on concerns of insufficient rain
CBOT wheat rose for a second day on concern that rain in the US southern plains and France came too late to reverse crop damage in the world's two largest shippers of the grain amid rising demand for feed substitutes to corn.
July-delivery wheat gained as much as 1.4 % to US$7.70 a bushel on CBOT, before trading at US$7.6775.
Thundershowers over the weekend are unlikely to help the winter-wheat crop from southern Kansas to recover from stress caused by dry weather, Telvent DTN Inc. said on June 10. France's crop has suffered irreversible damage from the country's driest spring in half a century, and rain in the past few days came too late to restore yields, farm adviser Offre et Demande Agricole said on June 10.
"The supply condition in the world is not that optimistic," an analyst said. Concerns that dry weather will curb harvests in some of the world's largest shippers of wheat outweighed optimism about Russia's return to the export market, he said.
French soft-wheat yields this year may slide 15% because of drought damage to the plants, cutting the harvest by 13% to 30.9 million tonnes, the lowest in four years, crops office FranceAgriMer said on June 8.
In the US northern plains, showers and thunderstorms will continue to delay spring-wheat and corn planting, according to the DTN forecast.
About 79% of the US spring wheat crop was planted as of June 5, behind the 97% pace a year earlier, and the past five-year average of 98%, the USDA said on June 6. About 94% of the corn crop was planted, compared with 99% a year earlier, and an average of 98% in the past five years, it said.
Corn for July delivery, the contract with the biggest volume, gained 0.5% to US$7.9075 a bushel in CBOT. The December delivery contract, which has the most open-interest, was little changed at US$7.1225 a bushel.
November-delivery soy declined as much as 0.4% to US$13.765 a bushel on CBOT, before trading at US$13.80.