Chicago wheat futures fell for a fourth consecutive session on Wednesday after plunging to eight-week lows the previous day as ample supply and progress in peace talks between Russia and Ukraine triggered selling by speculative investors.

Corn futures steadied after falling on Tuesday as cheaper wheat provided competition for corn in feed markets. A partial recovery in crude oil prices failed to lift soybeans, which had slipped to seven-week lows on Tuesday due to plentiful supply and lacklustre demand for U.S. exports.

The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade was down 0.2% at $5.08-1/2 a bushel, as of 1220 GMT, after diving 2.2% and touching $5.07-1/2, its lowest level since October 23, on Tuesday.

“The weather is too good in a lot of growing regions, and that is pushing up supply. Demand is not following to the same extent,” said Michael Whitehead, executive director for food, beverage and agribusiness insights at ANZ.

“Nothing appears to be on the horizon that would change the dynamic,” he said.

Southern Hemisphere producers are pouring wheat into an already well-supplied market. The Rosario Grains Exchange last week raised its production estimate for Argentina to a record-high 27.7 million metric tons, and Australia is on track for its third-biggest harvest.

Commodity funds were net sellers of CBOT wheat, soybeans and corn on Tuesday, traders said. Their net sales of wheat were the biggest for any day since November 6, according to their estimates.

CBOT corn rose 0.2% to $4.37-1/2 a bushel after falling to a three-week low on Tuesday. Soybeans were down 0.1% at $10.62 a bushel, having slipped to their lowest since October 27 in the previous session.

Brent crude fell below $60 a barrel for the first time since May, putting downward pressure on prices of biofuels and the feedstocks used to make them, including soy.

They were back at $60.03 a barrel by 1220 GMT, having touched $58.72 a barrel in the previous session.

A peace deal between Russia and Ukraine would lessen risks to exports of commodities, including wheat, corn and oil, through the Black Sea.
Source: Reuters