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Chicago wheat, soybeans, corn lower on downbeat U.S. crop sales

Xinhua, February 5, 2016 Adjust font size:

Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) wheat, soybean and corn futures closed all lower on Thursday, due to worse-than-expected U.S. crop sales last week, despite the weaker U.S. dollar supporting dollar-denominated commodities.

Chicago wheat led losses as the most active wheat contract for March delivery dropped 7.25 cents, or 1.51 percent, to close at 4.7275 dollars per bushel. Corn for March delivery lost 2.5 cents, or 0.67 percent, to close at 3.685 U.S. dollars per bushel. March soybean delivery shed 2.25 cents, or 0.26 percent, to close at 8.745 dollars per bushel.

A report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) showed net sales of U.S. wheat and soybean last week both were marketing year lows, undercutting the prices in wheat and soy.

The USDA said Thursday in its weekly export sales report that for the week ending Jan. 28, the United States witnessed exports of wheat were down 26 percent from the previous week and 34 percent from the prior four-week average.

Meanwhile, soybean export sales fell by 14 percent from the previous week and 23 percent from the prior four-week average.

Corn exports were up 2 percent from the previous week and 19 percent from the prior four-week average, according to the same report.

But analysts said that based on cheap Argentina and EU wheat and corn, the U.S. corn export pace is expected to slow down in coming weeks.

For their respective marketing years to date, the U.S. corn sales were down 25 percent from last year; soybeans sales were 17 percent lower compared to a year ago; wheat sales fell by 10.5 percent from a year earlier, said analysts.

The weaker greenback help Chicago grains and soybeans trimming some losses for the day.

The U.S. Dollar Index, a measure of the dollar against six major currencies, Thursday fell by more than 0.7 percent on the prospects that the Federal Reserve would probably postpone raising interest rates, supporting dollar-denominated agricultural commodities. Enditem