IKAR in Mass and Industry Media

Wheat Drops as Rising Russian, EU Supply Boosts U.S. Competition

Bloomberg

Sept. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Wheat fell to the lowest price in almost three weeks on speculation that increasing supplies from Russia and Europe will reduce demand for grain from the U.S., the world's largest exporter.

Russia, which lifted a ban on exports July 1, may ship a record 3.3 million metric tons of grain in September, according to the Moscow-based Institute for Agricultural Market Studies. Limits on deliveries by rail are ending at Russia's main export hub in the southern port of Novorossiysk. Ukraine said grain output may be as much as 33 percent larger than last year, and France boosted its outlook for wheat production yesterday.

U.S. "export business hasn't been that great ever since Russia opened their ports," Tom Leffler, the owner of Leffler Commodities LLC in Augusta, Kansas, said in a telephone interview. "Wheat is holding up here at lofty areas, along with corn and beans. As long as we're overpriced in the world market, that will definitely have an effect" on exports, he said.

Wheat futures for December delivery fell 10.5 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $7.41 a bushel at 10:11 a.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade, the lowest for a most-active contract since Aug. 19. Before today, futures were still up 22 percent since the end of June.

Wheat is the fourth-largest U.S. crop, valued at $13 billion in 2010, behind corn, soybeans and hay, government data show.

28.09.11

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