CANBERRA- Chicago wheat futures retreated on Tuesday after major exporters Canada and Australia upgraded their production forecasts, boosting the outlook for global supply.
Statistics Canada raised its estimate for all-wheat production to 32 million metric tons from 29.8 million tons, and Australia lifted its harvest forecast by about 100,000 tons to 25.5 million tons.
The Chicago Board of Trade’s (CBOT) most-active wheat contract was down 0.2 percent at $6.19 a bushel after touching $6.26-1/2 on Monday, its highest since Aug. 28.
Wheat had risen around 10 percent over the last five sessions, and received a boost on Monday when the US government confirmed the largest one-off private wheat sale to China since 2020.
“There’s still quite a lot of grain in the world,” said Andrew Whitelaw, an analyst at consultants Episode 3, adding that he didn’t see reason for prices to either fall or rise much in the near term.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Monday reported private sales of 440,000 metric tons of US soft red winter wheat to China.
The news hit a market in which speculators hold a huge net short position, making it vulnerable to bouts of short-covering that push prices higher.
