Wheat, corn ease on Ukraine ceasefire talks; soybeans climb
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MUMBAI, March 16 (Reuters) – U.S. wheat and corn futures eased on Wednesday, as Ukrainian officials gave upbeat assessments of their peace talks with Russia, lifting the likelihood of the Black Sea region opening up soon for grain exports.
Soybeans rose on firm edible oil prices and as the market closely monitored drought conditions in South America, fuelling concerns of tight supply.
The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Wv1 was down 0.24% at $11.51-1/2 a bushel, as of 0408 GMT, after rising more than 5% in the previous session.
“Ukraine and Russia are holding good amount of grains stocks. As soon as war ends, this stockpile will be available for shipping,” said a Mumbai-based grains dealer with a global trading firm.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday peace talks were sounding more realistic, but more time was needed, as Russian air strikes killed five people in the capital Kyiv and the refugee tally from Moscow’s invasion reached 3 million.
Ukraine could plant 4.7 million fewer hectares this spring, a 39% decline, due to Russia’s military invasion, the APK-Inform agriculture consultancy said.
Corn Cv1 dropped 0.46% to $7.54-1/2 a bushel, while soybeans Sv1 rose 0.63% to $16.69-1/4 a bushel.
Soybean has been drawing support from the upside in edible oils and the expected drop in South America’s output, the dealer said.
The restrictions imposed by China, the leading grains buyer, to contain the outbreak of coronavirus could limit its corn and soybean imports in the short term, he said.
China reported 1,860 new local symptomatic COVID-19 cases on March. 15, posting over a thousand for a fourth consecutive day, with most new infections still concentrated in the northeast, official data showed on Wednesday.
Grains traders were also monitoring movement in crude oil, which bounced back on Wednesday after earlier falling more than $1 a barrel, as Russia’s invasion continues to dominate volatile trading.
