GRAINS-Wheat stays near one-week low on stronger dollar, dismal demand
By Naveen Thukral and Sybille de La Hamaide
SINGAPORE/PARIS, March 21 (Reuters) - Chicago wheat was hovering close to a one-week low on Friday as the market continued to face pressure from a stronger dollar and slowing demand for U.S. cargoes while adjusting ahead of a government report on U.S. plantings.
Soybeans and corn markets were little changed.
The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Wv1 was flat at $5.57-1/4 a bushel, as of 1200 GMT. The contract was still up 0.1% this week, marking a second consecutive weekly rise.
"(Wheat) supplies are likely to tighten as there is going to be less Black Sea wheat available in the coming months."
Soybeans Sv1 were up 0.5% to 10.13-3/4 a bushel and corn Cv1 slipped 0.5% to 4.68-3/4 a bushel.
Traders are positioning ahead of the USDA's grain stocks and prospective planting reports on March 31, where the agency will release estimates for farmers' planting intentions in 2025.
They are also monitoring tariff tussles between the United States and its trading partners, discussions to end the Russia-Ukraine war and U.S. farmers' plans for spring planting.
China's soybean imports from the United States jumped 84.1% in the first two months of 2025 compared with a year ago, but competitive pricing and a trade standoff with the U.S. are expected to boost purchases from Brazil in the months ahead.
The International Grains Council on Thursday forecast a rise in global corn production in the 2025/26 season with larger crops seen in the United States, Brazil, Argentina and Ukraine.
The intergovernmental body, in its monthly update, projected there would be a global corn crop of 1.269 billion metric tons, up from 1.217 billion in the previous season.
Commodity funds were net buyers of CBOT corn, soybean and soyoil futures contracts on Thursday, traders said. They were net sellers of soymeal and wheat futures contracts. COMFUND/CBT
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