SINGAPORE- Chicago wheat rose for a third straight session on Wednesday with prices climbing to their highest since August 2018, underpinned by tightening global supplies and strong demand.
The US soybean market dropped to its lowest in more than a month as traders anxiously awaited signs of Chinese buying.
“Wheat prices in the Black Sea are rising and the market is taking it as a sign of tighter global supplies,” said one Singapore-based trader.
The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade gained 0.2 percent to $5.82-3/4 a bushel, having risen earlier in the session to its highest since Aug. 7, 2018 at $5.83-3/4 a bushel.
Soybeans were up just a quarter of a cent at $9.16-1/4 a bushel, after dropping earlier in the day to $9.14-1/2 a bushel, the weakest since mid-December.
Corn rose 0.3 percent to $3.88-1/2 a bushel, having closed down half a percent in the previous session.
Rising prices in rival exporters, including Russia and Ukraine, combined with strong demand supported Chicago wheat futures.
French grain industry players warned of a severe impact on the cereal sector if ongoing strikes over pension reform that have disrupted the country’s rail services and port activities since last month were to last.
A month-old public transport strike that has crippled rail services and rolling stoppages by dock workers have left firms in the European Union’s biggest grain producer struggling to get their crop to ports and factories. – Reuters
