Wheat heads for 4th straight weekly loss on Black Sea export hopes

CANBERRA: Chicago wheat futures fell on Friday and were on track for their fourth straight weekly decline as traders hoped for a revival of exports from the Black Sea and as the US dollar strengthened, making US crops less competitive globally. Corn and soybean futures also moved lower, with corn headed for a weekly fall, as market participants waited to see whether a US-China summit would produce Chinese commitments to buy US agricultural goods. The most-traded wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was down 2. 1% at $6. 92-1/2 a bushel at 0324 GMT and trading at its lowest levels in a month. Prices were down 3. 1% so far this week and have fallen from a 3-1/2-year high of $7. 95 at the start of September. CBOT soybeans lost 0. 9% to $13. 05-1/2 a bushel but were up 0. 2% from last week’s close. Corn slipped 1. 4% to $5. 20 a bushel – its lowest in a month – and was down 1. 4% for the week. The US dollar held its gains after rising sharply against a basket of major peers in recent weeks. Traders focused on renewed diplomatic efforts to end the Ukraine war and re-establish the Black Sea grain export corridor, which Turkey said it was stepping up efforts to achieve. Russian and Ukrainian attacks on each other’s grain shipments have hampered exports and lifted global prices. Yelena Tyurina, chief analyst at the Russian Grain Union, estimated that Russia would export 1 million metric tons of wheat in September compared to 5. 7 million tons in September 2025. So far, Russia and Ukraine disruptions have not caused an increase in US export business, StoneX analyst Bevan Everett wrote in a note, adding that soybeans and corn were “poised to react to the results of the visit of President Xi Jinping. ” CBOT wheat prices on the most-traded contract’s continuous series fell below their 50-day moving average for the first time since July, a bearish technical signal. Soybean processors in the western US Midwest are offering hefty premiums for immediate deliveries as persistent rains delay the early harvest.

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