Chicago wheat futures edged lower on Wednesday reaching an eight-month low as the U.S. harvest continues and rainfall across Europe allayed recent weather worries.
Corn prices traded both sides of unchanged, as pressure from favorable weather across the U.S. Midwest offset a positive ethanol report, while soybeans were bolstered by talks of warming trade with China.
The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade was down 6-3/4 cents to $4.89-1/4 a bushel by 11:18 a.m. CDT (1618 GMT), after touching $4.87-1/4, the contract's lowest level since Oct. 8, 2019.
CBOT soybeans added 3-1/4 cents to $8.70-1/4 a bushel, while corn was up 1/2 cent to $3.29-1/2 a bushel.
The winter wheat harvest progresses in the U.S. Plains region while in the Black Sea region forecasters raised production estimates.
Soybeans were buoyed as optimism over China's return to the U.S. bean market overwhelmed a promising crop outlook.
U.S. Midwest weather forecasts for rain and easing temperatures in the week ahead tempered concern about stressed corn after a recent hot, dry spell.
"Corn and beans are both affected by weather as much as any demand considerations, and the weather’s looking pretty promising here," said Jack Scoville, futures analyst at The Price Futures Group.
'Output Increase'
Ethanol output continues to increase and stocks of the corn-based fuel are decreasing, the U.S. Energy Information Agency said in its weekly report, but not enough to instill confidence, traders said.
“When you have such an overwhelming surplus, and have had weak demand, you’re not going to change sentiment easily,” said David Hightower, president of Hightower report.
Weekly ethanol output increased to 841,000 barrels (bbls) per day, with weekly stocks dropping to 21.35 mln bbls.
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