CANBERRA- Chicago wheat futures regained some ground on Thursday as traders looked beyond low price offers in Europe and shifted focus to forecasts of smaller harvests in Australia and Argentina that are likely to tighten supply later in the year.
Corn and soybeans also advanced as an oil price rally lifted ethanol, an alternative fuel that can be made from either crop.
Wheat harvests in Russia and many other northern hemisphere countries are nearing an end and dry weather has hit crops in southern hemisphere exporters that harvest later, said Rod Baker, an analyst at Australian Crop Forecasters in Perth.
“While Ukraine and Russia are getting wheat out, prices will remain here,” he said. “But after that, you’ve got a shrinking crop. This is putting a floor under the market.”
Most-active wheat futures on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) were up 0.4 percent at $5.81-1/2 a bushel.
Prices fell to $5.70 a bushel earlier this month, the lowest since December 2020.
