Chicago wheat futures edged lower on Friday and were set to end the week down 1.2% as plentiful global supply from ongoing northern hemisphere harvests outweighed strong U.S. exports.

Corn futures also weakened, heading for a 2% weekly fall amid expectations of a large U.S. harvest.

Soybeans slipped 0.6% for the week as U.S. weekly export sales came in at the lower end of trade estimates.

The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) declined 0.3% at $5.39-3/4 a bushel at 1156 GMT, with CBOT corn down 0.5% to $4.18-3/4 a bushel and soybeans 0.6% lower at $10.18 a bushel.

“The (wheat) supply coming onto the market as a result of the ongoing harvests has been weighing on prices for weeks,” Commerzbank said in a note.

This prompted Commerzbank to cut its forecast for the U.S. wheat price at the end of the year to $5.70 per bushel from $6.00 previously. It also lowered its forecast for the EU wheat price to 210 euros per ton, from 220 euros previously, due to the better EU harvest.

Net U.S. wheat export sales for the week ended July 17 came in at 712,000 metric tons, at the high end of a range of trade estimates.

Scouts on an annual North Dakota crop tour projected hard red spring wheat yields in the top-producing state will average 49.0 bushels per acre, down from a record 54.5 bpa last year.

Given that the northern hemisphere is deep into harvest season, “it’s very unlikely that something will change with the supply outlook,” Rabobank analyst Vitor Pistoia said, adding that plentiful corn supply and low corn prices are also weighing on wheat. “No one’s expecting upside.”

In corn, the USDA on Thursday reported sales of 135,000 tons to South Korea and 284,196 tons to unknown destinations.

Soybeans faced some spillover pressure from weakness in the CBOT soymeal market on Thursday after news that Chinese buyers bought more meal from Argentina, though prices regained some ground on Friday.
Source: Reuters