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SINGAPORE, Jan 16: Chicago wheat edged up on Friday but prices were on track for a fourth week of decline, giving up more than 15 percent during the period as U.S. shipments face stiff competition from Europe. Soybeans ticked up after dropping 1.8 percent on Thursday, when it also hit its lowest since Oct. 27 amid expectations of record production in South America and smaller-than-expected private crushing data in the United States.
‘What is happening with oil prices is having an impact on grains and there is competition for wheat from Europe which will keep prices down,’ said Phin Ziebell, agribusiness economist, National Australia Bank.
Chicago Board Of Trade front-month wheat has lost almost 5 percent this week, falling for the last seven sessions while soybeans are down 5.6 percent, biggest weekly drop since September. Corn is down almost 5 percent, the biggest one-week loss since July.
Wheat gained 0.7 percent to $5.36-1/4 a bushel by 0232 GMT on Friday and corn rose 0.5 percent to $3.82 a bushel. Soybeans added 0.1 percent to $9.92 a bushel after dropping 1.8 percent on Thursday.
U.S. commercial handlers were holding the largest ever soybean supplies as of Dec. 1 and South American farmers were likely to gather their biggest bean crop in history, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a monthly report this week.
The National Oilseed Processors Association in a monthly report said soy crushers in the United States processed 165.383 million bushels of soybeans in December. The figure was just below the record-large crush from the same month in 2013 but came in near the low end of analyst expectations.
The USDA reported weekly sales of 818,700 tonnes of corn and 1.13 million tonnes of soybeans, above analyst expectations.
But U.S. wheat exports of 284,700 tonnes were near the low end of estimates. Egypt’s main buying agency earlier announced a purchase of 240,000 tonnes of wheat from France. No U.S. wheat was offered in the tender, with supplies uncompetitive in the top global wheat market. Prices at 0232 GMT Contract Last Change Pct chg Two-day chg MA 30 RSI CBOT wheat 536.25 3.50 +0.66% -0.28% 593.49 22 CBOT corn 382.00 2.00 +0.53% +0.26% 400.23 34 CBOT soy 992.00 1.00 +0.10% -1.71% 1035.84 30 CBOT rice $11.39 $0.05 +0.49% +2.11% $12.01 48 WTI crude $46.39 $0.14 +0.30% -4.31% $54.36 30 Currencies Euro/dlr $1.164 $0.001 +0.06% -1.31% USD/AUD 0.824 0.002 +0.29% +1.12% Most active contracts Wheat, corn and soy US cents/bushel. Rice: USD per hundredweight RSI 14, exponential
(AGENCIES)
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