Last week wheat quotes in Chicago has updated the annual maximum for futures with the nearest delivery, reaching at $4.75/Bush ($174,5/t). Growth was supported by rapid closing of short positions by speculative funds who are concerned about adverse weather conditions for the wheat crop in the United States and the EU. For the week, net speculative interest funds (the difference between the number of contracts for the purchase and sale contracts) declined to USD 11.8 thousand contracts against -85,7 thousand contracts a week earlier.

Wednesday the market started to actively decline breaking the upward trend and losing gains made over the previous weeks. Today July contract is trading around $4,5/Bush ($was 165.3/t), a decrease of 2% compared to the closing of the previous week. The reversal of the market due to rapid harvesting of winter wheat in the US and a collapse in the corn market.

The prices of corn last week decreased by 6.9%. The July futures in Chicago closed the week at $3,57¾ per bushel ($140,8/t), compared to $3,84 per bushel ($151,2/t) per bushel ($152,7/t) a week earlier. The weakening of the market due to the established in the Midwest USA favorable weather and lower quotations of soybeans to the lowest level since April of 2016.

The current decline in wheat prices in Chicago – a negative factor for export prices for Russian wheat, which has in recent weeks actively growing. Last week quotes with delivery in July-August increased on average by $3/MT to $183-186/t FOB Novorossiysk.

Photo: agroventa.com.ua