Forex Pros – Wheat futures slumped to a two-day low on Monday, extending losses from the previous week as easing concerns over global wheat supplies dragged prices lower.
On the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, wheat futures for September delivery traded at USD6.5188 a bushel during European morning trade, dropping 1%.
It earlier fell to USD6.4900 a bushel, the lowest price since last Thursday, when prices hit an 11-month low of USD6.0575.
Wheat futures sank approximately 7.2% last week and are down almost 20% in June amid receding concerns over a shortage in global supplies caused by droughts in the U.S. and Europe, which took prices to an all-time high in February.
Favorable weather in the U.S. Great Plains and dry weather conditions in the northern U.S. wheat-belt aided planting of U.S. winter-wheat crops over the past week, potentially boosting yields and upgrading the quality of the harvest.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said in its weekly crop progress report last week that nearly 31% of the U.S. winter-wheat crop was harvested as of June 19, higher than the five-year average of 22%.
Nearly 27% of Kansaswinter-wheat crop was harvested, compared to the five-year average of 16% for this time of year.
Kansas is the largest wheat-growing state in the U.S., which is the world’s biggest exporter of the grain.
Meanwhile, Australia’s Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics said earlier that total wheat production in Australia could total 26.2 million metric tons in the 2011-12 marketing season, beginning August 1.
The revised forecast is 7.8% higher than previously projected, as recent rainfall over Western Australia’s major wheat-growing regions helped boost the nation’s crop outlook
Australia is the world’s fourth largest wheat exporter.
Elsewhere, corn for September delivery fell 0.52% to trade at USD6.4925 a bushel, while soybeans for August delivery shed 0.3% to trade at USD13.1075 a bushel during European morning trade.
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