Wheat futures on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) declined on Monday, reaching their lowest point in nearly two months, pressured by a combination of abundant new-crop supply prospects, weak U.S. export demand, and accelerated harvesting in the U.S. Plains.
Corn and soybean futures also moved lower, with the market showing a muted response to the sharp spike in oil prices triggered by escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.
Market data showed that as of 11:31 GMT on the 8th, the most active CBOT wheat contract was down 0.2% at $5.785 per bushel, marking its seventh consecutive session of losses. Soybean futures fell 0.7% to $11.1275 per bushel, while corn futures dropped 1.0% to $4.1325 per bushel, having earlier hit a contract low of $4.125.
Commodity analysts noted that despite some drought-related production losses for U.S. winter crops, the overall outlook for new crops in other key Northern Hemisphere regions remains favorable, acting as the primary factor suppressing international wheat prices.
Agricultural consultancy APK-Inform released a report on Sunday, significantly raising its forecast for Ukraine's wheat production to 21.7 million metric tons from a previous estimate of 19.9 million. Concurrently, crop-growing prospects in Russia and Ukraine are generally positive, which is expected to intensify competition against U.S. agricultural exports in the global market.
Matt Ammermann, an analyst at commodity risk management firm StoneX, pointed out that while recent sharp declines in gold and wheat prices have attracted some technical support buying, the macro backdrop of ample global supplies remains firm.
This is due to a lack of significant weather threats in European and Black Sea regions and the fact that concerns over the U.S. harvest have already been factored in by the market.
Addressing the decoupling between agricultural and energy markets, Ammermann further emphasized that despite a significant surge in international crude oil prices following escalating Iran-Israel conflict, corn and soybean markets have shown clear signs of "headline fatigue," failing to exhibit a typical inflationary response to recurring Middle East tensions.
Conversely, favorable weather conditions across the key U.S. Midwest growing region are currently supporting corn and soybean development, and with anticipated rainfall, commodity grain prices are likely to remain under pressure in the near term, driven predominantly by fundamental factors.
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