U.S. and European wheat futures rose on Thursday as limited availability of crop for export in Russia helped counter recent pressure from an advancing northern hemisphere harvest, traders said.

Corn and soybean futures were little changed, consolidating near multi-month lows as the markets looked ahead to U.S. Department of Agriculture monthly estimates on Friday.

Broadly favourable global crop conditions and uncertainty over U.S. tariff policy continued to weigh on grains.

The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade was up 0.6% at $5.50 a bushel by 1212 GMT, breaking a four-session fall, while Kansas hard wheat futures (KWv1) added 1.2% to $5.30 a bushel.

Euronext futures led gains in wheat, with the benchmark September contract (BL2U5) climbing as much as 2.2% to a two-week peak of 201.00 euros ($235.41) per metric ton as it tested the psychological 200 euro threshold.

In Russia, the world’s biggest wheat-exporting country, a slow start to harvesting and reluctant selling by farmers were forcing exporters to raise prices as they tried to secure supply to load vessels, according to traders.

“The Russian harvest is still running late and some exporters are covering themselves on Euronext,” a European trader said. “It should be short-lived though as it looks like Russia is going to harvest around 85 million tons.”

Investors also hold large short positions in wheat, making futures prone to short-covering moves.

CBOT corn was down 0.5% at $4.13-1/4 a bushel, and CBOT soybeans edged down 0.2% to $10.05-1/2 a bushel.

Soybeans hit a three-month low earlier in the session, while corn remained near an eight-month low touched in late June.

Favourable Midwest weather continues to weigh on corn and soybean prices, fuelling expectations of bumper U.S. harvests that would add to big crops in rival exporter Brazil.

“For corn, we have bearish weather, which (is) limiting any upside seen in prices,” said one agricultural broker.

Grain traders remain worried that U.S. tariff disputes with key trading partners may hurt demand for U.S. crops and exacerbate a glut in supply.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal on Wednesday of a 50% tariff on all imports from Brazil was not seen directly affecting grains, unlike other farm commodities like coffee.

But weakness in Brazil’s currency, the real, which slid following Wednesday’s tariff announcement, could have a bearish knock-on effect on grain markets by making Brazilian exports cheaper, traders said.
Source: Reuters