News
25.12.2009
Wheat Drops After U.S. Weekly Exports Fall to Lowest Since May
Wheat fell in Chicago trading after U.S. exports of the grain in the week of Dec. 17 declined to the lowest level since May.
March-delivery wheat slipped 0.9 percent to $5.2425 a bushel in electronic trading on the Chicago Board of Trade at 2:14 p.m. Paris time, after rising 1.2 percent yesterday.
U.S. wheat export sales fell to 221,299 metric tons last week from 344,992 tons a week earlier, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a report today. The figures are “bearish” for the grain, broker Allendale Inc. said in a market comment.
“Whatever the output is from the current winter wheat crop, the world has large supplies of wheat,” U.K. grain trader Openfield said on its Web site today.
The volume of U.S. wheat exports was the lowest since the week of May 28, according to Bloomberg data. Wheat is the fourth-biggest U.S. crop, valued at $16.6 billion in 2008, behind corn, soybeans and hay, according to government figures.
Milling wheat for January delivery traded on Liffe in Paris slipped 0.2 percent to close at 128.75 euros ($185.20) a ton.
Corn for March delivery climbed 0.2 percent to $4.055 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade after gaining 1.5 percent yesterday. Before today, the contract fell 3.1 percent this month, the first drop in four months.
March-delivery soybeans slipped less than 0.1 percent to $10.875 a bushel. The contract rose 1.1 percent yesterday after the Department of Agriculture said U.S. exporters sold 367,000 tons in transactions with Italy, China and buyers that weren’t identified.
Bloomberg
