Chicago wheat and corn futures edged higher in Asian trading on Thursday, supported by bargain-buying, although the prospects of a Black Sea grain export deal being renewed kept gains in check.
Soybeans held steady after rebounding in the previous session from losses during the last five trading days of February, as concerns persist about supply from drought-hit Argentina.
The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was up 0.3 percent at $7.12 a bushel. It dropped to its lowest since September 2021 earlier this week.
Russia, one of the world’s largest wheat exporters, said on Wednesday it would only agree to extend the Black Sea grain deal, which allows grain to be safely exported from Ukrainian ports, if the interests of its own agricultural producers are taken into account.
Meanwhile, Australia’s 2023/24 wheat crop is likely to be around 25 million-26 million tons, a senior executive of Graincorp Ltd. said on Thursday, after three years of record production in the world’s second-largest exporter of the grain.
